The origins of Pohick Church can be traced to a chapel of ease for Overwharton Parish, which appears to have been built around 1695 in the Woodlawn area of today's community of Mount Vernon.

[14] George Mason began his long association with the church in February 1749–50, when he was named warden to replace the deceased Jeremiah Bronaugh; he would go on to serve the congregation as a vestryman until the dissolution of vestries after the American Revolutionary War.

[4][17] George Mason, for his part, argued that the new structure should be built at the site of the old church, as the cemetery contained the graves of many family members; Washington is supposed to have responded by surveying the new location, showing that it was more convenient to most members of the parish, and presenting the results to a meeting of the vestry, whereupon Mason's objection was dropped,[18] although he is reported to have stalked out of the meeting, exclaiming, "That's what gentlemen get for engaging in a debate with a damned surveyor!

[6] Twenty percent of the building's cost was raised at a 1772 auction of pews in which many local landowners participated; the remainder came from tithes and other contributions,[4] including three annual levies on the tobacco crop.

[28] Much of the original woodwork in the building was executed by master carver William Bernard Sears, a longtime associate of Buckland's who was also attached to Gunston Hall, likely in indenture to Mason, and is known to have worked at Mount Vernon as well.

[31] Plans for the church complex also called for the installation of mounting blocks and six benches in the churchyard, so that people could sit under the trees, and for the area to be cleared of all rubbish and litter.

[36] Another fixture at the church was Reverend Charles O'Neill, remembered chiefly for having been presented with a used suit of Washington's clothes, which he would wear while preaching, although it did not fit him well; he was held to be quite popular among local families.

[18] Among those who provided funds to fix the leaking roof were John Quincy Adams, Martin van Buren,[4] Daniel Webster, Francis Scott Key, and Henry Clay.

[6] The church continued serving an active Episcopal parish, being staffed sporadically by students from the Virginia Theological Seminary after Johnson's 1840 departure;[6] in addition, a Methodist congregation held services in the building for some years in the 1850s,[7] and a debating society used it for meetings for a time.

Also included in the book is a description of the site of the church; at the time of the writer's visit, it stood on the edge of a primeval forest composed largely of oaks, pines, and chestnuts, which extended "almost uninterruptedly" to Mount Vernon.

[40] The earliest known detailed picture of the church building dates to this period in its history; it was painted by John Gadsby Chapman, and shows the dilapidated state to which the structure had been reduced.

[6] Skirmishes are known to have taken place in the vicinity of the church throughout the war;[46] the area was officially neutral ground, but was populated by guerrillas attempting to disrupt local military operations.

[50] Renovations, paid for by a donor from New York City,[51] were undertaken beginning in that year to make it suitable for use, but no attempt was made to restore the church to its colonial splendor.

[43] Pohick Church on occasion played host to dignitaries; in 1878 President Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife Lucy attended a service there after having spent the night at Mount Vernon.

The church is provided with a modern tracker organ, completed by Fritz Noack in 1969 to a design by Charles Fisk, with carvings executed by Roger Martin.

The pulpit, also Ionic in its fittings, is carved of pine, as are its canopy and the reading desks; the gold leaf used to execute portions of its decoration was donated by George Washington.

The newer of the two was carved by William Copein from a design in a book by Batty Langley; its base was destroyed during the American Civil War and it was removed from the church for some time, although it was later returned.

[33] The older has been dated to the eleventh or twelfth century, and appears to have once been a mortar from a monastery refectory; many such pieces were shipped to the American colonies for liturgical use,[6] and the font is associated with an earlier church occupied by the congregation.

My mother used to sit in the church and read the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments over the Chancel, and admire the gilded dove that Mr. Sears had placed high over the Pulpit.

[68] The belfry in the churchyard was erected at the time of the restoration works in the early twentieth century, and was fitted at its construction with a bronze bell inscribed "In Memory of Washington";[69] it was the gift of a donor from New York, Augustus Schermerhorn.

A two-volume Bible of 1796 was donated to the church in 1802 by George Washington Parke Custis; it is inscribed inside by him, and further contains an inscription written by a Civil War soldier who took possession of it in 1861.

[87] The oldest remaining tombstones original to the cemetery are those of Eliza Harover, erected in 1865, and John Robertson, dating to the following year; the burial of Ann S. Nevitt, on October 2, 1875, is the first for which a written record was kept.

[22] A number of figures notable in the early history of Fairfax County and the surrounding area are buried in the cemetery, many of their graves having been moved from other sites over the years.

[22] Other graves and gravestones in the churchyard were moved from Summer Hill,[22] Bradley,[90] Stisted[91] (in the former town of Colchester),[92] Mount Air,[93] Cedar Grove,[94] Belmont,[95] Springfield,[96] Cameron, and Halstead plantations;[87] also reinterred there were remains from the West family cemetery in Alexandria.

[87] Other notable figures buried at Pohick Church include Marion Moncure Duncan, the 25th President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the novelist and playwright Paul Kester.

[105] Near the Fitzhugh graves is a memorial marker to Long Tom, a chief of the Doeg tribe,[33][note 1] who according to legend was killed by Susanna Alexander to save either herself or her husband John during an attack.

[22] It reads: this Tribute of Respect is paid the Many Parishioners Buried in this Hallowed Churchyard The Records are Lost & the Graves cannot now be identified Several surveys of the cemetery have taken place over the years, beginning with that done by Carrie White Avery in 1923.

[87] Earlier remains continue to be reinterred there as well; if unmarked graves are found on land whose ownership can be traced back to original members of the parish, the church is willing to discuss moving them to the churchyard.

Sculptural work was done for the mausoleum by Felix de Weldon; reliefs illustrated historic events in which the family participated, and depicted scenes from the lives of Saints Peter, Paul, and Stephen.

[111] Little remains on the site to mark the former presence of the complex save an obelisk dedicated to Remey's parents and a pair of structures which served as chimneys or vents.