George Washington’s First Recorded Worship at Christ Church

On June 13, 1773, George Washington recorded attending a service at Alexandria’s newly completed Anglican church, informally known as the “Church in the Woods.” Located just west of town, this church would later become Christ Church, a prominent landmark in Alexandria’s religious and civic life. Washington’s attendance reflects his ties to the Anglican tradition and to the prominent families of the region, including the Fairfaxes and Carlyles. His diary entry offers a glimpse into Alexandria’s early religious landscape on the eve of the Revolutionary War.

1915 illustration of Pohick Church and its 18th-century congregation—reflecting the same Georgian style as Alexandria’s Christ Church, where George Washington worshipped. (Historic Virginia Homes and Churches, p. 390).