We know that Walker's has a long and storied past. That history actually predates the founding of our Republic. In 1739, Rev. John Thomson of Pennsylvania made a missionary trip to the south where “he preached at Buffalo and Walker's (places of worship for the Scotch Irish settlers in Amelia...)” This area of “upper Amelia” was later taken into what became Prince Edward and then Appomattox Counties. In 1745 Thomson bought a farm in the Buffalo community of Prince Edward and started a small school that became the predecessor of Hampden-Sydney College.

​

The Rev. Samuel Davies was an early American Presbyterian leader who helped obtain permission from the authorities in England to

allow the “Toleration Act” to apply here in Virginia just as it did in the British Isles. This granted religious privileges to “dissenters” like Presbyterians and the families that made up Walker's. In 1755, under the leadership of Davies, Hanover Presbytery was formed in Virginia. That same year, Davies held a week long service at Cub Creek where on the final day during communion services, some 2000 people gathered. Davies wrote, "In the great multitude were numbers of people from Buffalo and Walker's churches."

​

By 1776, the Rev. Archibald McRobert led the Anglican Church in Prince Edward County. McRobert found himself more and more associated with the theology of the Presbyterians and finally left the Church of England in late 1780’s.  According to “Virginia Magazine of History and Biography (20:432) ”McRobert come over to the Presbyterian Church in 1787. “He took with him Walker's church, then in Prince Edward County.”

 

Over the next 10 to 15 years it appears the Presbytery found it difficult to

fill the pulpit and the church building became what’s described as a Union

Church, where multiple denominations worshipped together. This is

documented in an 1802 deed from Dr. James Walker, Dick Holland, and his

wife, Martha, to church trustees when they conveyed the “tract of two acres

on which Walker’s Church now stands…for the use, benefit, and emolument

of public worship for the societies of Christians, Presbyterians, Baptists and

Methodists or any other religious society or sect who wish to use the said

house for the aforesaid purposes either in common or jointly or separately

as to them shall seem best for preaching the Gospel, administering the

sacraments, etc.”

 

We also know that by 1828 there was an established Sunday School, or as it

was called then, a Sabbath School, evidenced by the tapestry, painted by

Ms. Jane I. Lewis, still hanging in the sanctuary.

 

The oldest written Session records begin in 1852. Twenty years later, in 1872,

the church was combined with the Appomattox Court House Presbyterian

Church by order of the Presbytery. It is unknown whether church services

continued here during that time, but Walker’s was reorganized in 1887 and

there have been continuous services here since.

​

Like the initial origins of the church itself, exactly when and where the first building was constructed is also a bit of a mystery. But the current building dates to 1910. With a new building, the name of the church was changed to Hixburg Presbyterian in April of that year. The name was changed back to Walker’s Presbyterian in 1957. Three classrooms were added and dedicated in 1961 and in November 1975, a kitchen, bathrooms, and a basement were added. In 2012 a new addition was completed and dedicated. This added a larger social hall and a finished basement with four classrooms.

 

This church has been an important part of this community for centuries. It witnessed the Revolution that founded the country.  It has persevered through the tragedies of the Civil War and both World Wars. Membership numbers have ebbed and flowed with the growth and then decline of families. As long as we continue to preach the Gospel and faithfully worship God, by what’s written in the Bible, it will continue to be an integral part of this community until Jesus returns.