Jeffersonton Baptist Church

18498 Springs Rd.
Jeffersonton, VA 22724
540-937-5446

Our History

Jeffersonton Baptist Church History Book Cover

Jeffersonton Baptist Church is the second oldest Baptist Church in Culpeper County, VA and was constituted by Elijah Craig on December 11, 1773.

The first meeting house was located near Kelly’s Ford, the second near Freeman’s Ford, and in 1819, the third was built on the current church yard in Jeffersonton, VA. In 1848, work began on the present brick structure, and additional land was purchased here in Culpeper for a cemetery.

One Sunday morning in February 1877, the building caught fire from a chimney flue and burned. The church was rebuilt on the same walls. The portico was not added until 1921.

Jeffersonton Baptist Church History Book Cover

The “Great Wagon Road” from Chester’s Gap to Falmouth and the Piedmont Stage Route from Washington to Milledgeville, GA passed through Jeffersonton VA, then a bustling town, where the road which passes in front of the church is today.

On August 23, 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette, with former President Monroe and other Revolutionary War soldiers, paid a farewell to “ye ancient Towne of Jefferson”. General Lafayette issued a “cordial and affectionate shake by the hand” to every person who desired to meet him.

During the Civil War, skirmishes took place in and around Jeffersonton Baptist Church, both sides making good use of the stone fence out front. The church was used as a hospital in 1862, as armies were moving up the Rappahannock to the Battle of Second Manassas (aka the 2nd Battle of Bull Run). We have over 30 Civil War soldiers buried in our cemetery-all are unknown to us but not to God.

Before the war, elegant gentlemen and ladies in gorgeous array arrived at Jeffersonton Baptist Church in fine carriages driven by well dressed coachmen. The carriages disappeared after the war due to the poverty that followed. People walked, rode horses or came on ox carts.

Today, Jeffersonton Baptist Church is a conservative Bible-believing church that God has preserved for over 250+ years in the Village of Jeffersonton. We are part of SBC Conservatives of Virginia. Our tithes and offerings support thousands of missionaries in this country and over 120 nations across the world.

Our purpose and goal is to share the love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ to those in the Jeffersonton, VA community, state, nation, and throughout the world.  

This is done in obedience to the words of

Matthew 28:18-20

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 
Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.”