See it on Google Maps!
Directions: From Hillsborough take Saint Mary's Road about 5 miles east of where it crosses US-70. At the intersection with Pleasant Green Road, turn left (north) and take the first gravel road on the right - called Fairview Lane. The address above is for the Baptist church which is just north of Saint Mary's Chapel.
Saint Mary's Chapel
Saint Mary's Chapel was one of the earliest church buildings in Orange County. While we don't know the exact date when the original chapel was built, we do know that the original acre was donated by Thomas Holden. His deed of gift was proved in the Orange County Court of Please & Quarter Sessions in 1759 - just 7 years after Orange County was formed.
That original acre is where the old Saint Mary's Cemetery is - a hundred or so yards southeast of the existing Chapel. The northeast corner of that cemetery is where the original Chapel stood. In 1766 Governor Tryon wrote to the Society fro the Propagation of the Gospel that each Parish which does not have a church does nevertheless have at least two chapels. Form this we can gather that Tryon means the Orange County had at least two chapels in 1766. One of those would be the New Hope Chapel which stood on the hill that would come to be called Chapel Hill. And the other would be Saint Mary's Chapel. So, we have a good idea that the Chapel was built sometime before 1766 - presumably around 1759 when the land was given.
Saint Mary's was an Anglican chapel - a part of the established Religion of Colonial North Carolina - the Church of England. The Anglican Church was so allied with King George III during the Revolution that it fell out of favor in the American Colonies after the Revolution, though Anglicanism did hold on until about 1792, calling itself the Episcopal Church after the ware ended. After 1792, the Anglican/Episcopal Church in North Carolina was no more.
It took until 1817 for Episcopalians to get organized again in North Carolina, when the Diocese of North Carolina was formed with Ravenscroft as it Bishop. Of the numerous chapels and churches that the Anglican Church once had, only Saint Mary's Chapel seems to have survived the Revolution and wound up being owned by the Diocese of North Carolina.
It's not entirely clear whether congregants used the old Saint Mary's Chapel during 25 years that the Episcopal Church was absent from North Carolina, nor is it clear what faith they claimed in that time. But it is clear that a modest congregation at Saint Mary's Chapel became part of the Diocese of North Carolina in 1819. Presumably this congregation was still using the same building that had been built around 1759 - some sixty years earlier.
For certain we know that the stone wall around the graveyard was built in 1836 , as it is mentioned in the Hillsboro Recorder of 14 Oct 1836. What sort of chapel there was at that time is unclear.
In 1859, Thomas Holden's great-grandaughter Ellen Bain donated an 9 and 9/16ths acres to Saint Mary's Chapel (see ODB 52/40). On this land the current chapel building was built shortly thereafter.
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For whatever reasons, the land was not deeded to the Diocese until 30 years later (see ODB 52/171).
The congregation remained quite small in the latter 19th century. Services ceased sometime in the mid-1900’s. Starting in 1974, a series of different volunteers including architect Max Isley have restored the chapel to its present state.
There is no congregation there today, but St. Matthew's Episcopal in Hillsborough and many of the old chapel's current and former neighbors hold a service there on the fourth Sunday in August every year. Check with Saint Matthews in Hillsborough to confirm the date: Check with Saint Matthew's to confirm the date.
Among those buried in the Saint Mary's Cemetery are:
Annyas Allen (1791 - 1826)
Elizabeth Cain (____ - 1851)
Duncan Carrington (1807 - 1874)
William Carrington (____ - 1851)
J. Y. Dortch (1800 - 1882)
Mary A Dortch (1832 - 1921)
Nancy Cain Douglas (1786 - 1848)
Rosanna Douglas (____ - 1854)
Fannie Elizabeth Evans (1884 - 1933)
Jack Spencer Evans (1911 - 1911)
Catharine Holden (____ - 1825)
John Sr Holden (____ - 1842)
Louisa Holden (____ - 1837)
John Jr Kelly (1779 - 1851)
John Latta Jr. (1779 - 1818)
John Latta Sr. (1734 - 1824)
Joseph Latta (1784 - 1824)
Suzanna Latta (____ - 1792)
William Latta (____ - 1968)
Caroline Lockhart (1832 - 1833)
Cora E Lockhart (1857 - 1859)
David Lockhart (1806 - 1847)
Robert Lockhart (1833 - 1834)
Samuel P. Lockhart (1843 - 1864)
A Nichols (____ - 1850)
Alvis Nichols (1800 - 1845)
Johnathan Nichols (____ - 1800)
Johnathan A (1) Nichols (1835 - 1861)
Johnathan A (2) Nichols (1862 - 1862)
Mary A Nichols (1833 - 1907)
Mary Polly Dortch Nichols (1808 - 1892)
Nannie J. Nichols (1843 - 1938)
Pe R Nichols (____ - 1850)
Robert M Nichols (1839 - 1840)
Mary Ellen Catherine Riley (____ - 1897)
Sarah Roberts (1778 - 1828)
Alse Vickers (1730 - 1780)
George C Walker (1884 - 1885)
Rona Walker (1880 - 1881)
For more detailed burial information, see Allen Dew's excellent Cemetery Census website.
Other sources consulted:
Browning, Hugh Conway, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, Saint Mary's Chapel, 1978.
Browning, Hugh Conway, Information Relating to St. Mary's Chapel, 1958 & 1970.
Joy, Deborah, Archeological Assessment of St. Mary's Chapel Cemetery, the Committee on St. Mary's Chapel, 1995.
"63rd Annual Homecoming Service - Historic St. Mary's Chapel," September 27, 2015.
