The Old Salem Meetinghouse

It is a tiny, rubble-stone building, now tucked away behind three late 19th and early 20th-century frame additions. Those who drive past it today on Route 17 outside Marshall might have some difficulty locating it. Its presence - and pure Colonial form - have been obscured almost as effectively as its historic role in the development of Marshall and Fauquier County.

But here, inside its original 40 by 24-foot walls, the growth of the town initially called Salem and a significant part of Fauquier County were charted. Around this building in 1796, the town which was later to become Marshall was laid out. Fauquier's sole vote for Abraham Lincoln was cast here in 1860, and the Marshall National Bank was organized within its walls in 1905.

It is Marshall's oldest building, Fauquier's sole remaining Colonial church building, and the only structure erected exclusively as a Baptist meeting house in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Since its erection in 1771, this modest little building has served as a place of worship, town meeting hall, polling place, academy, public school, private residence and office space.

Upper Carter's Run Baptist Church in Marshall has been obstructed by additions on three sides since it was built in 1771. The circa 1921 photo above shows the original building at the rear, with it's white plaster exterior.

* One of the current projects of the Fauquier Heritage and Preservation Foundation is the restoration of "the Old Stone Academy" in the town of Marshall -to be known as Old Salem Meetinghouse *

Fauquier Heritage & Preservation Foundation