St. Luke's Episcopal Church

For over 124 years, Saint Luke’s Church has welcomed the valley's year-round and seasonal residents and visitors of the Episcopal faith. In 1895, the Virginia Hot Springs Company, owners of the Homestead and other properties in the valley, donated the land for St. Luke’s Church and its edifice was built in the same year.  The church was officially consecrated on the Feast Day of Saint Luke, October 18, 1899. 

Throughout its history, the congregation has carefully preserved the historic architecture and cultural treasures of the parish and its Episcopal community. The Deagan Tower Chimes were a gift of Mrs. M.E. Ingalls in 1924 in memory of her husband, former President of the Virginia Hot Springs Company. The Resurrection Scene over the altar was painted in 1933 by Christine Herter Kendall, who would later donate her estate to the Garth Newel Music Center. The present organ, recently restored, was built by the M.P. Moller Company and dedicated in 1959 in memory of John Hughson Hirsh, a beloved organist. The two chancel windows were given in 1928 in memory of Lanier Dunn and a daughter, also Lanier Dunn, by Mrs. Dunn and Mrs. George Cole Scott. Descendants of the Hirsh and the Dunn Family remain congregants to this day.