Lynchburg Daily Virginian

James Waddell of Virginia.

Bishop Meade, in one of his interesting sketches of the old Episcopal Churches in Virginia, describes the present desolation of the field of labor of Mr. Wirt's famous blind preacher:

"The county of Lancaster was the scene of the early labors of the Rev. Mr. Waddell, the blind Presbyterian preacher, who is so feelingly described by Mr. Wirt in the British Spy." At a time when disaffection towards the Established Church was spreading through Virginia, and great numbers were leaving it, Mr. Waddell, by talents, zeal, and piety, gathered two congregations in this county. One of the churches was near the court house. The graveyard in its ruins is the only relic of the establishment of that denomination in Lancaster county. About fifty years since the church shared the same fate with those of the establishment, which have now passed away. The two acres of land on which it stood, and beneath which are the remains of numerous adherents to that denomination, has ever been regarded as sacred. A grove of oaks, sycamores, pines, and other trees shaded the hillocks, and some tomb stones which were spread over the surface of the earth, which was carpeted with a covering of green grass. It was, I am told a favorite resort to the people of the village and country around—to the young as a play ground—to the old as a scene of contemplation. I recently visited the spot but found it no longer a scene for the young or old, the gay or the grave. Nearly every tree was gone, having been within a year or two cut down and converted into cord wood and sold to the steamboat. Nothing is to be seen but stumps and piles of dead branches, which hide not only the hillock graves, but the few tomb stones which were once to be seen. Young cedars are everywhere putting forth their shoots, and in a few years it will be with this spot as with many in Virginia—it must be so hidden from the view that it will be difficult for any ecclesiastical antiquarian to discover the spot where Mr. Waddell once proclaimed the gospel of Christ. Rumors say that in the absence of any member of the church near at hand, application was made to some Presbyterian minister at a distance, and leave granted to do something to this interesting spot, which has resulted in such utter desolation."