Lectures on the Lawn: Stephen Wilson “St. John’s Church, Patrick Henry, and Liberty or Death: A Closer Look”
Mechanicsville, VA 23116
The Rural Plains Foundation and the National Park Service are pleased to an-nounce the 2025 “Lectures on the Lawn” series for 2025. Join us on three consecutive Thursday evenings in June at the Shelton House in Hanover County, part of the Totopoptomy Creek Battlefield unit of Richmond National Battlefield Park.
Stephen Wilson: “St. John’s Church, Patrick Henry, and Liberty or Death: A Closer Look”
Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” speech in Richmond in 1775 was a turning point in the struggle for independence. That day, Henry stood out in a large assembly of charis-matic leaders, many of who arrived with dramatically different agendas than he had. Ste-phen Wilson of the St. John’s Church Foundation provides an inside look at the men who gathered there, the paths that led them there, and why Henry’s pleas prevailed (barely) in the crucial vote for self-determination.
Stephen Wilson has served since 2021 as Executive Director of the St. John’s Church Foundation, which works both to preserve the legacy of the “Library or Death” speech, and to help maintain and improve the historic church property.
The lectures begin at 6:30 on the lawn in front of the Shelton House at Rural Plains, located at 7273 Studley Road. They are free and open to the public - picnic suppers are encouraged! (Rain location: Enon United Methodist Church, 6156 Studley Road.)
