When John Wesley sent lay preachers to America, it was not with the intent of starting a new church.  But the timing was ideal for that purpose, for a spirit of revolution had been growing for several years in the English colonies. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence officially proclaimed the intent of the colonies to sever their ties from their mother country.  It was then that Wesley made the decision to allow the American preachers to organize themselves into a separate denomination.  In a meeting held in Baltimore, at Lovely Lane Church, on Christmas Eve of 1784, the Methodist Episcopal Church was established.  Francis Asbury became its first bishop, and general superintendent of the church.

 Methodism had begun in Virginia in 1774, but did not reach the isolated Northern Neck until May of 1785.  Francis Asbury had been invited to visit Colonel Robert Carter of Nomini Hall, which was in Westmoreland County. Arriving in Lancaster County by ferry from Urbanna, Asbury spent a night (or possibly two) in Lancaster, then went on to Westmoreland to visit with Carter.  This is what Asbury wrote in his journal:

Perhaps the providence of God led me this way, that I might see and learn to pity the state of the people in the Northern Neck of Virginia . . . . I have been sensibly affected with their situation.

A few weeks later Asbury formed the Lancaster Circuit, which included all the counties of the Northern Neck. Two circuit riders, the Reverends Joseph Everett and Lewin Ross, were sent to develop and serve this circuit.  Within the first year they had established twenty-seven preaching places throughout the Northern Neck.  Many of them eventually became churches.

One of those preaching places was in the Fairfields area where services, at first, were held in a barn.  On January 11, 1787, Asbury recorded, "Rode through the snow to Fairfields.  Here a Captain R. had turned the people out of the barn in which worship was held."  The following year, on Christmas day, 1788, Asbury wrote, "I preached in the open house at Fairfields."  [An open house was a brush arbor, a crude shelter with corner posts and a roof structure covered with branches. It provided some protection from the sun, but little more.]

Two early converts to Methodism were John and Jemima Lansdale, who owned a plantation in the Fairfields area. On August 11, 1789, the Lansdales gave an acre of their land to a group of trustees: Daniel Haynie, Isaac Webb, Samuel Harding, John Blundall, Cuthbert Elliston, Thomas Schofield (of Northumberland County), and John Degges (of Lancaster County).  The land, described as being “bounded on one side by the main road leading into Hacks Neck, and another side by the main road leading into Hulls Neck,” was to be held in perpetual trust for the exclusive use of "those preachers known by the name of Methodists."  On that land, at least three successive buildings were erected, the last one in 1849.  The church still owns that acre of land today.  It now is part of Old Fairfields Cemetery. 

In late September, 1790, the Reverend William Hill arrived in Lancaster County.  His aim for the visit was to try to revive the Presbyterian denomination in the lower Northern Neck.  Over the next several weeks, Hill preached wherever he could in both Lancaster and Northumberland counties, keeping a journal of his activities. In that journal, he reported that he preached at “Fairfields Meeting-house.” This means that in the year since the land was given, the Fairfields Methodists either had erected a meetinghouse on the land, or that there had been one on the land when it was deeded to them. 

Each year, from 1785 through 1795, two circuit riders were sent to the Northern Neck.  As the number of preaching places grew, the ministers would organize the people into groups, called classes or societies.  By 1790, records of the annual conferences show that there were 1,013 persons “in Society” on the Lancaster circuit.  One of the two preachers would begin to travel the circuit, and the second preacher would follow two weeks later.  Each of them would visit a preaching place daily, hold a worship service, and then a class meeting.  That night, they would spend the night with one of their parishioners, then get up early the next morning to ride to the next preaching place.  The circuit riders had no fixed place of residence.  They carried their wardrobe and their possessions in their saddlebag. At the completion of the circuit, they would take one day off, to do their laundry and take care of business or personal matters, then began the circuit again.

In 1796, the Lancaster Circuit was transferred out of the Virginia Annual Conference and into the Baltimore Conference.  This was because the people of the Northern Neck had closer economic ties to Baltimore, by way of water, than to the rest of Virginia. 

The next mention of Fairfields is found in the extant records of the Lancaster Circuit.  On July 26, 1817, “Fairfields Chapel” is named as one of the preaching places on the circuit.  And on an old map of lower Northumberland County, believed to have been drawn in the 1820s (and contained in the archival materials at the Library of Virginia), M.M House is shown at the precise location of the acre at Edwardsville.  Obviously, the initials stand for “Methodist Meeting.” 

In 1809-10, the Reverend Benedict Burgess was appointed to Lancaster Circuit.  During that appoint-ment, he met and married a local woman, and settled in what now is Burgess, which was named for him.  He remained active as a "local preacher," and also became involved in a reform movement that sought lay representation in the decision-making for the denomination. He and several other local men, one of whom was John Lansdale, Jr., attended a Reformers' Convention in 1828.  On the first Sunday after their return, the minister in charge expelled them from Fairfields Church.  On Christmas Day of 1828, under the leadership of the Reverend Burgess, a separate congregation was organized at Fairfields.  In time, this separate congregation united with the newly-formed Methodist Protestant Church, and the people of Fairfields were divided.  For a time, Fairfields continued as a preaching place on the Lancaster Circuit, and ministers from both the Methodist Episcopal and Methodist Protestant circuits used it.

In 1835, the records of the Lancaster circuit show that the circuit riders still preached at Fairfields.   In fact, Fairfields was responsible that year for the sum of $75. for the expenses of the circuit. 

A listing of the members of a quarterly conference, held in 1839, of the Heathsville Circuit of the Methodist Protestant Church includes the following persons:  Thomas Taylor [then the minister], Benedict Burgess, Samuel Walker, James M. Smith, William Harding, Cyrus Harding, Hiram Harding, Noah N. Cockrell, William E. Jett, John Lansdale, Thomas W. Hughlett, Henry Sutton, Thomas Douglas, Luke Ball, Walter Morrison, John Ingram, William Moore, Robert Esk-ridge, James Snow, Samuel Burgess, M. B. Cralle, Daniel Headley, and William Wilson.  Although the list does not match the names of the members with their church, it is likely that the following were members of Fairfields:  Benedict Burgess, Noah N. Cockrell, William E. Jett, John Lansdale, Robert Eskridge, and Samuel Burgess. Samuel Walker, Walter Morrison, and William Moore also might have been Fairfields members.

In the 1840s, controversy over slavery had become a major issue both in the secular world and in various denominations.  Unable to resolve their differences, the Methodist Episcopal Church split into north and south branches and the territory was divided.  Most of Virginia was assigned to the southern branch, but because of its long-standing economic relationship with Baltimore, the Northern Neck was assigned to the Baltimore Conference, the northern branch.  In 1847, the Methodist Episcopal churches on the Northern Neck "seceded," contrary to agreement, and united with the southern branch. Official complaints were registered, but nothing ever came of them.  It is likely that the Fairfields Methodist Protestant congregation considered that this was the ideal time to take action to claim the church property.

A new brick church, funded entirely by the Methodist Protestant congregation, was erected on the "joint" property in 1849-50.  After a brief legal skirmish between the two congregations, the court awarded legal ownership of the property to Fairfields Methodist Protestant congregation in 1850. By this time, the Heathsville Circuit of the Methodist Protestant had grown to include the following congregations: Fairfields, Ebenezer, Forrest Chappel [later called Smyrna], Heathsville, Wicomico, Union Church, Hacks Neck [later Afton], Shiloh, and Liberty Chapel.

The new brick church was plain and simple in design.  A rectangular building, it had two doors on the front, as was the style of that era. One door was for the women and one for the men.  They opened into a narthex with twin stairways, one on either side, which led to the balcony, and a door into the sanctuary.  Inside the sanctuary, there was a center aisle with pews on either side.  Men usually sat on one side of the aisle and women on the other, although occasionally young married couples would sit together near the center aisle.  The youth of the congregation preferred to sit in the balcony, which ran around three sides of the interior and was four pews deep.

Within ten years, the congregation had outgrown the new brick building.  They discussed lengthening it, as they could not accommodate all the people, but there is no evidence that this was done.  It is likely that the Civil War put those plans on hold.  Then, after the war, they lost a significant number of their members when their black members left to form a separate congregation.  There are no extant records that detail just how this came about, but it is likely, as in other local black congregations for which records do exist, that the black members requested that they be allowed to take positions of responsibility and leadership in the church, or, if that was denied, that they be given letters of dismissal for the purpose of forming their own church.  The church that the former members of Fairfields formed was first called Fairfields Colored Methodist Episcopal Church.  Today, it is Galilee United Methodist Church.

By 1870, the Heathsville Circuit of the Methodist Protestant Church had lost Union Church [located at what is now called Village], and Shiloh [probably in Balls Neck].  Some of the members of the remaining churches on the circuit began to favor a union with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.  In November, the circuit sent Littleton Cockrell as their delegate to the Annual Conference to cast the vote of the circuit for that union.   That vote was on the winning side of the issue.  The Virginia Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church disbanded to unite with the southern branch of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  But shortly thereafter, Fairfields and some of the other local churches rejected that decision for them-selves, and requested of the Maryland Methodist Protestant Conference that they be admitted.  Their petition stated that they disapproved “of the church union proposed,” and declared themselves “firm adherents to the Methodist Protestant  Church.”  Joining them in that decision were Afton, Wicomico, Liberty, and a few members of Heathsville and Smyrna.  The majority of the members of Heathsville formed a new congregation and eventually erected the white frame building that now is the Heathsville United Methodist Church.  The majority of the members of Smyrna organized Edgely Church and put up a new building at the intersection of Davis Mill Road with Route 202.  All that remains of Edgely are the front steps, the gate posts, and the cemetery.  The former building of Heathsville Methodist Protestant Church is now used as a law office.  Today, Fairfields, Afton, Wicomico, and Ebenezer are the only four remaining former Methodist Protestant churches of the Heathsville Circuit.

The Maryland Methodist Protestant Conference accepted the request from the “firm adherents,” and appointed a pastor for the greatly-diminished circuit. This relationship continued for nearly seven decades. 

Between 1881 and 1901, the membership of Fairfields grew to 207.  Wicomico had 106, and Afton, 80.  In that same period, Liberty had 47, Smyrna had 42, and Heathsville had only 15.  The last of the latter three churches closed its doors in the 1930s, leaving a three-point charge, then called the Northumberland Charge.  Today, Fairfields and Afton comprise the Northumberland Charge.

Old Fairfields Methodist Protestant Church.  This picture probably was taken several years after the congregation had moved to Burgess.  The building eventually was dismantled, and the bricks used to build a beachfront cottage nearby.

By the early 1900s, the members of Fairfields realized that they had lost their knowledge of how they had obtained their land. They were reasonably certain that there had once been a deed, but no one living had seen it.  A search was made in the county records, but the deed was not found.  [As it turned out, the deed had not been indexed in the general index.] 

Over the years, the land around the church lot had changed hands.  In 1906, it was purchased by William H. and Rosa Dodson.  The following year, the church purchased additional land from the Dodsons and received a deed for a parcel of land that included the lot on which the church stood.

In 1921, it was determined that Old Fair-fields was beyond repair, and that a new building would be erected: not at Edwardsville, but at Burgess.  This was not a unanimous decision by all the members, as there was a significant number who did not want to change the site of the church.  Eventually, several members and their families left the church and united with other congregations in the area.  On November 18, 1921, a small parcel of land at Burgess was purchased (for half its market value) from Miss Mamie Koenig and Mrs. M. E. Sydnor.  The land was part of the estate called Versailles, which formerly had belonged to Colonel Samuel Burgess, the son of the Reverend Benedict Burgess. 

In 1923, the conference sent the Reverend Clayborne Phillips to what then was the Northumberland Charge of the Methodist Protestant Church.  The Reverend Phillips was experienced in building new churches, and knew that he had been sent to oversee the construction of Fairfields’ new building.

The Reverend Phillips’ son,  Leroy

Phillips, was a young student who was majoring in architecture. His father shared with him some ideas that he would like to have incorporated in the new building and asked if he could draw some plans.  Leroy did so, creating a Gothic Revival style building, which he drew on a piece of cardboard.  The church was built using that sketch as the only building plan.  No blueprints were made. 

Under the Reverend Phillips’ supervision, the finest master builders in Northumberland County were hired, and top quality materials were selected.  From a shipbuilding company on the Eastern Shore, contoured and radiused pews (of butcher block construction) were ordered.  The church was completed in 1926, and stood until 1992.

On January 10, 1992, members of the church were awakened by phone calls informing them that their building was in flames.  It could not be saved; within a few hours nothing remained but rubble.   

In the following days, even more shocks remained to be faced by the members as they learned the circumstances that led to the burning of the building.  But, undaunted, they quickly began planning for the future.  An important first step was taken on February 23 when they began meeting at Fairfields Elementary School.

The next four months were busy ones, as the members worked together to accomplish the necessary tasks to enable them to collect the insurance money and meet the various deadlines.  Through the gen-erosity of two members, Harry and Ellen Alexander, adjacent land was purchased and held until the church was in a position to legally take possession of it.  A local architect drew plans, and put together a report for the insurance company on the replacement costs.  The church members truly learned the meaning of the word family during those difficult days.  They were united in their goal, to see Fairfields Church rebuilt, and learned that with reliance upon God

   
The Reverend Marion Paul White, 2003. This photo was made shortly before he was appointed to his twelfth year as pastor of the Northumberland Charge.

the seemingly impossible can be accomplished.

On July 1, Fairfields welcomed the Reverend Marion Paul White as its minister.  His first official act was to sign his permission for rebuilding, and a contract with the architect/contractor.  Two months later, in a celebration service attended by a large number of well-wishers, ground was broken on August 30, 1992 for the new building.

50 seats. 

In addition to the Activities Building, there is also a playground, gazebo, and walking track, all for the use of church members and the community.   In March of 2005, we had to say goodbye to our beloved M. P. White, who was retiring.  As interim pastor, the Conference appointed Eddie Barnett, whose tour of duty as an Army chaplain in the Middle East had just ended.  We came to love him in the few months he was with us.

At Annual Conference of 2005 Eddie was appointed to a church in Roanoke, and the Reverend Brant Hays and his wife, Barbara, came to serve the

Northumberland Charge.  As with every new appointment, there is always a period of adjustment.  No doubt, the Fairfields congregation said more than once that “M. P. didn’t do it that way,” but Brant, with his gentle ways and loving spirit, put up with his new congregation until he, too, won us over. 

Today, Fairfields United Methodist Church is in a stage of transition.  We have recently lost members, but are gaining constituents. The faithful members, some of whom have been around to see our church through other crises, are determined to see the church strong and healthy again.

As our predecessors worked to establish this church, so we, the members and constituents of Fairfields, have worked to continue it.  For ours is a precious heritage, one not to be taken lightly.  It is our privilege and responsibility to keep Fairfields United Methodist Church "a sign of God's love in our community."