Margaret Mercer Summer Series

Please join us for the Margaret Mercer Summer Series on the life and times of Margaret Mercer, an abolitionist in the 19th century. She purchased Belmont Plantation from the Ludwell Lee estate in 1836 in order to create a progressive Christian school for women. Miss Mercer, the daughter of the former Governor of Maryland, was a remarkable and somewhat controversial woman of her time. A staunch opponent of slavery, she was blessed with a passion for education and seeking knowledge which led her to pursue extensive studies in medicine, agriculture, public health, and theology, all in a period when such pursuits were deemed unsuitable for women.

In 1841, she built the Belmont Chapel and School, which later became St. David’s Episcopal Church and School, Ashburn, Va. Miss Mercer was considered to be "a woman of singular grace and spiritual beauty." Belmont Chapel soon became a center for community worship and other social and educational activity in the Ashburn area, attested to by the over 250 graves which surround the Chapel ruins to this day and which is the final resting place of local citizens whose names are among the most well known in Loudoun County history.

Our Summer Mercer Series starts with Pastor Michelle Thomas from Holy and Whole Life Changing Ministries International in Lansdowne. “We all want to know what our history is. And this is really that type of story.”

Where: St. David’s Episcopal Church and School,

43600 Russell Branch Parkway, Ashburn, VA 20147

(near the corner of Rte. 7 and Claiborne Parkway)

Sunday Night July 30, 7pm

For more information: Write to ken@kencourter.com, or call 571-201-3877