The History of Ivy Parish

In 1888, the Rev. Frederick W. Neve came from England to assume the rectory of St. Paul’s, thus beginning a long and fruitful ministry in Ivy. Dedicated to carrying the Gospel to the people of the Blue Ridge, Mr. Neve began a chain of mountain missions, many of which exist today. St. John the Baptist Church, Ivy is one of these. As a result of Neve’s tireless ministry, the Archdeaconry of the Blue Ridge was established in 1904; Neve served as the first Archdeacon until his death in 1948. St. Paul’s Parish House, erected that same year, is a memorial to him. The Prayer of the Thousandfold, found on the brass plaque in the sanctuary, serves as a reminder of the Order of the Thousandfold, begun by Neve to inspire service to God.  At its height, people across the globe adhered to the Order’s plea to make oneself a thousand times more useful to God.

On August 1, 1950, the year in which St. Paul’s became a parish, Dudley Archer Boogher became rector. Active in the mountain ministry since his ordination in 1931, Father Boogher served St. Paul’s and St. John the Baptist until his retirement in 1973. Under his leadership, the nave of the church was considerably enlarged in 1968, adding to the front and the rear and making possible the choir loft which housed the new Reuter organ. The bell tower, a familiar St. Paul’s landmark, was erected at that time.

The Reverend George W. Wyer became rector of St. Paul’s in early 1974 and served until his retirement on February 1, 1993. The Children’s Chapel was dedicated to the Reverend Wyer in appreciation for his work with the youth of St. Paul’s.

In 1993, the Reverend H. Miller Hunter, Jr. accepted the call from St. Paul’s and became Rector in early 1994. Under Miller’s guidance  the church undertook the most extensive expansion program since construction of the present building in 1868. Funds from an anonymous bequest made possible the purchase of the adjacent property, ­ Kirklea, the former home of Archdeacon Neve to house the church offices. On September 7, 1997, Bishop Robert Atkinson visited St. Paul’s and officiated at the dedication of Kirklea and at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Parish Hall and classrooms, which was dedicated in October 1998, the 160^th anniversary of the parish.

The Rev. Dr. Eric J. Liles served as Rector from April 8, 2012 to June 25, 2017. The Very Rev. Zachary Fleetwood served as Interim Rector from August 29, 2017 to September 23, 2018. During their tenures, Kirklea, the century-old house that serves as the church offices, was completely renovated and restored.

The Rev. Justin M. McIntosh was called to St. Paul’s in October 2018.

Today, as since its inception, St. Paul’s Ivy Episcopal Church remains responsive to the needs of the community, honoring the traditions of the past while working toward the goals of the future.

A Few Stories, to Start

Architecture and Historical Significance

What’s the deal with Kirklea, the beautiful Victorian home next to our church? Touted by the Historical Architectural Survey of Albemarle County Villages and other county documents as “significant” and “a fine example of the Queen Anne style of Victorian architecture,” Kirklea, which now houses our church offices, is a noted 19^th century home with a storied past.  Its architectural sophistication as well as its association with Archdeacon Frederick Neve make it “an important part of the County’s material culture.”

Frederick Neve

Upon his arrival in Virginia, Archdeacon Frederick Neve, the English minister and first rector of St. Paul’s, Ivy who became known for his outreach work in the blue ridge mountains, initially built and lived In his first blue ridge mission, St. John the Baptist, in what was then referred to as Ivy Depot. In 1906, Neve built Kirklea, which means “from the church’s meadow,” next to St. Paul’s, Ivy. During his ministry, Neve was often away from his home, as “reaching the mountain settlements on horseback took hours and even days of riding through rough terrain…” But when he retired as rector of St. Paul’s in 1928, Neve spent more time in “his spacious home, Kirklea” and lived there until his death in 1948.

But what is Kirklea’s story after Neve? After his death, the house passed through the hands of a number of other families with interesting stories, a few of which we are beginning to capture.

The Ashcoms: From Winter Run

In his novel Winter Run, Robert Ashcom writes about his enchanted boyhood living in a small house on the large Silver Hill farm on the outskirts of the village of Ivy. Upon the 1949 death of Gerrard Glen, the U.Va law professor who owned the farm, his family “moved to Kirklea, on the other side of the village, next to the church.” For Ashcom, the move to Kirklea signified the end of childhood. A passage describing Glenn’s funeral reads:

Everyone knew how [Robert] felt about leaving the Corn House and moving to the big house across the tracks on the other side of the village. You could see it in his eyes when he got off the bus in the village instead of riding on up the hill to the lane at Silver Hill. In spite of knowing the village like the back of his hand, having grown up in it, he would look around like he was lost or in the wrong place. Then he would turn away and trudge up the bank and across the railroad and onto the lower lawn of his new home.

And yet, reflecting on the shift in his life signified by the move to Kirklea, Ashcom describes his family growing closer to the church. He talks about his father’s involvement at St. Paul’s (“the little pipe organ my father spent hours on…”) as well as his blossoming friendship with Dudley Archer Boogher, the rector of St. Paul’s, Ivy at the time. He also reflects on his own spiritual growth:

But I had been closely watching [Boogher] and my father together at the altar in the early mornings, and I had heard the language of Cranmer and the King James Bible. And although the surface meaning of the words often escaped me, even then, I could hear the struggle toward God. I knew that beyond the farm and nature and the animals and Matthew and the other people I knew and loved, this was the center of their lives, and wondered without words whether it would become mine.

Boogher eventually called Ashcom to serve at the altar, and during one service in which Boogher accidentally used the phrase, “to you, my brother” instead of “to you, my brethren,” Ashcom describes the feeling of the rector speaking “to me alone,” and continues, “And I felt a sudden warmth as if God himself had finally spoken to me; and for that moment the steady and inexorable loss of my world became bearable, even at thirteen.”

The Littles

We’re not sure how long the Ashcoms owned Kirklea, but William and Peg Little came to own or occupy the home in the late 1960’s. William Little, Professor of German and Music Emeritus at U.Va also served  as organist and choirmaster of St. Paul’s, Ivy from 1967 to 1987.

In the 1970s, Bill Engels and five other second-year law students rented Kirklea from the Littles while the couple went on sabbatical from the university.  Far from being raucous students, the group of friends took fastidious care of the home and enjoyed its quiet, picturesque setting.  Indeed, Bill describes a comfortable domestic situation: the Littles’ motherly cleaning lady would sometimes leave behind a pot of stew; two ‘outdoor cats’ eccentrically named Owl and Pig eventually won entry into the house with their persistent window ledge meows. While the law students didn’t know too much about the Littles, they had been rumored to be an interesting couple: they were purported to have owned a little herd of goats, who were all given the name Helen—so that they’d all answer to one name at feeding time. Bill notes, “I don’t know if it was a true story, but it was a great story.”

Kirklea Returns to St. Paul’s, Ivy

In the 1990’s, Kirklea went on the market again. An unnamed parishioner of the church bought it and is rumored to have sold it back to St. Paul’s, Ivy for only a dollar. In 1997, Kirk Train of Train Architects renovated Kirklea to convert the home into offices for church staff and in 2018, St. Paul’s called on Train Architects again for a more significant redesign and renovation of the house, which included accessing the attic space which was previously only reachable via a ladder in the bathroom.

Now, standing in front of Kirklea, it’s hard not to feel invited to climb the steps and walk through the front door. Inside, you’ll be greeted by Mary Lane, the church administrator, who not only supports the clergy, staff and parishioners of St. Paul’s, Ivy but also maintains church records and assists with property management. When he’s not on a pastoral care visit, leading worship or a Bible study, you’ll find the rector, the Rev. Justin McIntosh, in his office on the first floor. Make your way up the staircase to find more offices, one of which belongs to the Rev. Amanda Kotval, St. Paul’s Associate Rector who spearheads the Invite, Welcome, Connect program. Amanda’s office, once Frederick Neve’s bedroom, has beautiful bay window overlooking the Kirklea grounds. You might hear lovely music from the guitar of the Rev. Richard Lord, fondly known to many as Father Rick, floating from one of the offices, and soon, the new Director of Music Ministries, Gabriel Rhys Simerson, will also have an office on the second floor of Kirklea. The third floor, formerly the attic, now serves as the office of Director of Communications Lisa Bell, and is where all of St. Paul’s, Ivy communications begins. And although her office is not in Kirklea, Director of Children’s and Youth Ministries Audi Barlow is often seen in Kirklea making sure the programming she oversees is perfect and ready to roll out. What was once a home to the Rev. Neve is now the epicenter for the the planning, coordination, and carrying out of the work of St. Paul’s, Ivy.

Story submitted by Priya Swenson

Whether you’re a visitor or a church member, the beauty of our stained glass windows is probably one of the first things you notice when you enter the sanctuary of St. Paul’s, Ivy. But did you know that the lancet windows behind and to the left of our altar were made by J&R Lamb Studios, America’s oldest stained-glass company, and a competitor of both John LaFarge Studio and Tiffany Glass Company? The windows depicting Madonna and Child and St. Cecelia (on the left side) date to 1951. In these pieces as well as in the altar windows, the use of opalescent glass, hand-painted intricate details, and 3D modeling of figures is consistent with the more traditional styling of stained-glass art made after the Great Depression.

The use of opalescent glass in particular is powerful in the altar windows. Invented by John LaFarge, opalescent glass reflects as well as refracts light, and while it can be one color, is generally two or more colors with visible streaks and swirls. This semi-opacity, which creates a unique glowing effect, can be seen in the sky in all three images, in Jesus’s tunic in the middle image, and in other areas in all of our J & R Lamb Studios windows. Take a look next time you’re in the sanctuary and see where else you spot it.

Showcasing a markedly different style, the stained-glass windows throughout the nave were created by a Dutch artist named Frans Slijpen and some of them were imported from Holland in 1957. The vestry notes from 1956 show that they were much anticipated; noting when they were “between New York City and Charlottesville,” and finally in February of 1957, that “the stained glass windows have arrived.” Robert Ashcom’s book Winter Run contains an anecdote regarding the Dutch windows that speaks to the enthusiasm for their addition:
That is what they wanted, my father and [the Rev. Dudley Boogher, Sr.] – to take the little country brick church and make it a thing of small but rare beauty. They wanted it to have a large stone altar, a pipe organ, lots of vesting rooms, the modern-medieval windows. Those windows were made in Holland, and when they arrived at the village Will and my father were so excited that Daddy installed them himself instead of waiting for the experts. They were proud of themselves and the beauty of the windows, until two weeks later the whole thing buckled and the experts barely saved it.
Indeed some “trouble” with the stained glass is corroborated in the vestry notes.

These windows are characterized by highly-stylized figures that are reminiscent of Byzantine art and contrast with the rounded and shaded profiles in the Lamb Studios work, with background detailing that’s geometric in nature. You can see this in the windows depicting St. Paul and St. Albans, a lesser-known character who’s considered to be the first martyr in Roman Britain. The traditional cathedral glass is transparent and lets plenty of light through, contrasting with the thicker lead lines to create a look that somehow feels both modern and medieval. Other windows depict the Nativity, the Crucifixion, the Ascension, and Pentacost, while some seem to contain more obscure Christian symbology, such as this tree containing coats of arms.

Next time you’re in the chapel, take a closer look at our beautiful stained-glass art, and share what you know about them with us!

The Jesse Tree Window. Beautiful modern stained glass at St Paul’s Episcopal in Ivy, Virginia. It is one of six striking windows in the nave by the Dutch artist Frans Slijpen, installed in 1957. This one, showing a variation of the Jesse Tree, is my favorite. There is Jesse asleep at the bottom, a Star of David over him. Three symbols of Christ (the lamb, the crown, and the chi-rho) appear in the central axis. Surrounding these, perched in the red tendrils of this celestial plant, are shields bearing the attributes of Apostles and the Evangelists (the golden shields). How many of the Apostles can you identify? Almost in the point of the window, the dove of the Spirit—melding in to the blue-green glass of the background—speeds forth from on high. – John Hager, friend of St. Paul’s, Ivy