As Tidewater lands played out, exhausted from repeated tobacco plantings, or were encumbered by inheritance, the established church moved with young planters like Peter Jefferson into the Piedmont. One hundred thirty miles from the colonial capital Williamsburg and “planted close under the southwest mountains,” James Maury preached the gospel of the Church of England in … Continue reading The “Parson’s Cause:” Thomas Jefferson’s Teacher, Patrick Henry, and Religious Freedom