Fleetwood Church
Abandoned Church in Stevensburg, Virginia, United States
Jan 29 2022
| Recent status | Abandoned |
| Location # | 18334 |
History of Fleetwood Church
The history behind the church. Most of the residents in the area do not know much about the building, many of the locals believe that it was one of the biggest and busiest churches around Brandy Station back in the day. According to the stories told by the church books, a reverend by the name of John Carroll was sent to serve at the church after it was completed in 1881. The newly assigned pastor together with Wine (the man who donated the piece of land where the church was built), who was also a senior church leader led the church to popularity increasing the number of congregants significantly over the years. Not much is known of the pastor but after the death of Wine in 1898, his son inherited the church. After decades of decaying, Steven Pollett, the current owner, got interested in the building, buying it in the year 2014.
Coordinates 38°.5027 N, 77°.8901W
Fleetwood church is a former Methodist Church constructed in the late 1800s at Brandy Station, Culpeper County in Virginia. Daniel Wine, a local farmer, gave out a section of his farmland for the church to be built. Centuries later, the church stands deserted in a shabby state in between a cemetery and a railroad.
Is Fleetwood church haunted?
Many of the locals believe that the place is haunted, although it has not been proven they say some unusual activities take place in the building once in a while. The rumors are so serious that they attracted paranormal investigators who went to investigate if the claims are real. Though they have not obtained tangible evidence to support this, the investigators believe that the rumors might be true, putting into consideration that it was built on the grounds near the Civil War Battle that claimed so many lives years before. On top of that, some sections of the piece of land was used as a cemetery and not all of the bodies were exhumed when construction began.
What is next for the church?
Over the years Steve Pollett has tried to renovate and bring the historic church back to its former glory but this has not been as easy as he thought it was going to be. Though with limited finances, he has been able to do some minor changes and even influenced the paranormal investigators who are currently helping him raise funds to restore the church. With the help of the investigators, they have been able to raise a good sum of money though not enough. The church is still in ruins but Pollett is determined and hopeful that a day is coming when it will be fully restored as he plans to open it to the public once it is done. Anyone who feels like joining the team in restoration is invited to do so.
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1 year ago
Hi! I want to update the information given about the Historic Fleetwood Church. My husband and I founded Spirit Guides Paranormal. We are the team spearheading most of the fundraising efforts for Steve Pollet and the church (along with other teams, especially Transcend Paranormal.) We raised enough funds to renovate the steeple in November of 2021, which was a huge milestone. We're now working towards fixing the foundation, by running fundraising events including the annual Fleetwood ParaCon and the Psychic Faire of Brandy Station. The old church is definitely haunted. Many paranormal teams and individuals who have investigated the church and its grounds agree on that. One of the spirits that frequents the church is Mr. Daniel Wine's wife, Malinda. To my knowledge, Daniel, himself, has never been detected. You're right that the graves were supposed to be exhumed when the church was decommissioned and the congregation moved, and it does seem to have been a sloppy endeavor. One gravestone remains. It was pushed almost all the way to the railroad tracks behind the church and abandoned there. It's sad. There is a map that references a "Wine Family Cemetery" and places it near where the church currently stands, but there is no sign of it anywhere that we've been able to access. There is a wooded area that we can't get to, which is currently owned by other people, but would have belonged to the Wines when they donated the church property. It may be back in those woods. I don't know. The church was built in 1880 and began as a Methodist Episcopal Church in 1881. There is evidence, however, that the building was erected on the foundation of an older building. Steve has found Civil War bullets in the foundation. Also, there is a sketch in the Library of Congress, done by a Civil War soldier in 1864, that depicts the building beside Fleetwood, which was used as a Civil War field hospital. In the sketch, the soldier drew the corner of a building where the Fleetwood Church now stands. Something was there, but no one knows what.