Frying Pan Meeting House and Burial Grounds
Title
Frying Pan Meeting House and Burial Grounds
Date
1783
1791
Description
From the National Register:
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, Baptists were among the few religious groups in Virginia that were openly accepting of African Americans. Frying Pan Meetinghouse is one of the state’s oldest surviving Baptist churches where a racially integrated congregation was maintained from the very beginning. This simple meetinghouse traces its origins to 1775 when a Baptist congregation was organized at nearby Bull Run. Some of its members later wrote to Robert (“Councilor”) Carter requesting his permission to build a meetinghouse on land he owned near Frying Pan Spring. Carter agreed, and the present structure, erected by members of the congregation, was standing by 1791. The little-altered, wood-frame meetinghouse is in the plain vernacular style favored by nonconformists. In 1984 the property, located in the Floris Historic District, was acquired by Fairfax County Park Authority for a museum. The unusual name derives from a local legend which holds that Indians camping on the site were attacked by settlers and left behind their frying pan containing their meal.
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, Baptists were among the few religious groups in Virginia that were openly accepting of African Americans. Frying Pan Meetinghouse is one of the state’s oldest surviving Baptist churches where a racially integrated congregation was maintained from the very beginning. This simple meetinghouse traces its origins to 1775 when a Baptist congregation was organized at nearby Bull Run. Some of its members later wrote to Robert (“Councilor”) Carter requesting his permission to build a meetinghouse on land he owned near Frying Pan Spring. Carter agreed, and the present structure, erected by members of the congregation, was standing by 1791. The little-altered, wood-frame meetinghouse is in the plain vernacular style favored by nonconformists. In 1984 the property, located in the Floris Historic District, was acquired by Fairfax County Park Authority for a museum. The unusual name derives from a local legend which holds that Indians camping on the site were attacked by settlers and left behind their frying pan containing their meal.
From Virginia Department Historic Resources Wayside Sign:
By 1840, the Frying Pan Meeting included 33 White and 29 Black members. Black members’ graves were clustered together within the Meetinghouse burial grounds.
By 1840, the Frying Pan Meeting included 33 White and 29 Black members. Black members’ graves were clustered together within the Meetinghouse burial grounds.
Location
2615 Centreville Road, Herndon
District
Hunter Mill
Additional Notes
The Meetinghouse, NRHP Reference Number 91000016 is located within the Floris Historic District.
From the National Register:
“New research led to the 2017 update to the nomination for the Floris Historic District. The roles of enslaved and free African Americans have been central to Floris since the founding of the Frying Pan Meetinghouse, where both Black and White people worshiped until Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church was established by Black congregants in 1867. Two years later, Andrew and Mary Cook Lee (emphasis added) became the first Black landowners in the Floris area, purchasing 20 acres around the Meetinghouse and establishing a dairy farm in an era when very few African Americans owned land. In 1915, their son, Edward Lee, (emphasis added) became a founding member of the first rural branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in America in an effort to protect their rights to this land.
[NRHP Approved: 5/8/2017]
“New research led to the 2017 update to the nomination for the Floris Historic District. The roles of enslaved and free African Americans have been central to Floris since the founding of the Frying Pan Meetinghouse, where both Black and White people worshiped until Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church was established by Black congregants in 1867. Two years later, Andrew and Mary Cook Lee (emphasis added) became the first Black landowners in the Floris area, purchasing 20 acres around the Meetinghouse and establishing a dairy farm in an era when very few African Americans owned land. In 1915, their son, Edward Lee, (emphasis added) became a founding member of the first rural branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in America in an effort to protect their rights to this land.
[NRHP Approved: 5/8/2017]
NRHP Reference Number 10000543; AD10000543
Photo Credit
Courtesy of FCPL Virginia Room
Files
Collection
Citation
“Frying Pan Meeting House and Burial Grounds,” Fairfax County African American History Inventory, accessed October 24, 2026, https://fairfaxaahi.centerformasonslegacies.com/items/show/48.