On Sunday, Oct. 20, Sanford United Methodist Church welcomed the community to celebrate its 140th anniversary. There was an 11 a.m. worship service and a homecoming service at 2 p.m., followed by a full meal in the social hall.
The church is located at 23169 Belinda Road, near the intersection of Belinda Road and Saxis Road, on the south end of the village of Sanford.
Since it was built in 1884, Sanford has been a traditional Methodist church. The window over the front door shows “Sanford M.E. Church” as when it was built in 1884 it was part of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, which was based in Baltimore to serve the southern states.
Downing’s Church, the oldest Methodist Church on the bayside in upper Accomack County, was the mother church.
At its founding it was on the West Accomack Circuit. The 1859 Downing’s Church membership showed 22 people from the “Bay Side” which was evidently the Sanford area as all other communities in the area, such as Guilford, Pocomoke (at Grotons) and Saxis Island were noted separately on the list.
The area known as Dreke was between the present-day Saxis Road, which runs through the center of the village, and the Pocomoke Sound to the west. It was later renamed Sanford, in honor of Samuel Sanford (1650-1711), a Merchant of London, who in 1693 became a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and the high sheriff of Accomack County.
In his will written in England, he directed his 3,000 acres in the vicinity of Sanford to be rented out and the proceeds used to educate the poor children of this part of the county. It was known as the Sanford Charity and the Free School Land and continued in this tradition until its trustees deeded it to the new Virginia statewide school system about 1885.
In 1883 a group of forefathers saw the need of the great number of children in the village and the surrounding communities of Belinda, Marsh Market, Hammocks, and Dreke. The group, consisting of James Walter Hall, Charles Spencer, Raymond Lewis, and Amos C. Corbin, gathered the children in the old Sanford Charity schoolhouse in the middle of the village and started “The Sanford Class.” There were 141 charter members. It was in one of those Sanford Charity schoolhouses where the Sanford Methodist was formed.
In April 1883 Edward T. Stant and his wife Ann Janet Stant sold 1/6 acre of land to the church trustees, who were given five years to build a church or the land would revert to the Stants.
The church was built and dedicated in 1884. It was remodeled in 1893 and by 1900, when a parsonage was built, there were 189 members.
In 1910 the stained-glass windows were installed at a cost of $25 per window. By the beginning of World War I in 1917 there were 253 members. Today there are 25 members on the roll.
The Sunday school wing was added in 1968 and a kitchen was added in 1982, which enabled church bazaars to be held every October for many years.
In 1994 the church belonged to the Hallwood, Sanford, and Saxis Charge, with one pastor doing three services on Sunday.
The first homecoming was held in 1950 and they were held for many years, including 1984 for the 100th anniversary of the church. The last one of record was in October of 2001.
After a 23-year lapse, it was decided to have a 140-year anniversary called, “Coming Home” this year.
The church’s nine-page history booklet was expanded to 22 pages to include detailed information about the names on the stained-glass windows installed in 1910, which was presented during the service.
The program included two traditional poems, “The Sanford Neck” and “The Perfect Church,” two piano solos by two members who grew up in the church, songs by someone whose mother grew up in the church, memories of growing up in Sanford Church, a message by pastor William Jefferson, and a prayer by a former pastor, Glenda Turlington.
Many beautiful flower arrangements were donated in memory of deceased loved ones. Presentations were given to the oldest member present (85 years), the oldest guest (97 years) and the one who traveled the farthest (Baltimore).
The service concluded with “Blessed Be the Tie that Binds” by John Fawcett.
