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Hazelwild Farm, located adjacent to I-95 on Harrison Road, was operated as a dairy farm over several generations. With time, the farming operation transitioned to a center for horse breeding, equine training of youth and a weekday pre-school. Even before structured country welfare departments were organized Hazelwild Farm served as a temporary sanctuary for children needing a safe and nurturing home.
Miss Elizabeth Morrison, a member of the Fredericksburg Presbyterian Church, owned and managed with a passion the operations of the 280-acre farm. Known as ‘Aunt Sissy’, Miss Morrison remained active into her nineties with her love of horses and the development of youth. She had a knack for showing Christian concern to those whose lives she touched.
When asked, the Lord led Miss Morrison to open the farm facilities to the new church. With a place to call home, weekly worship services, Sunday school classes and fellowship events were established on a regular basis at Hazelwild beginning September 23, 1983. Weekly attendance soon grew to around seventy faithful souls. Miss. Morrison started attending services on her farm too, and subsequently transferred her membership from the Fredericksburg Church to the new church. In her nineties, ‘Aunt Sissy’—the oldest of the Spotsylvania Presbyterian Church charter members—was actively attending services until her health failed.
By March 1984, continued growth reached the capacity of the farm’s modern educational facility. Morrison offered the use of her dairy barn that had been converted to serve Hazelwild Farm’s weekday pre-school. It was a comfortable venue for weekend services. Accommodating more than 150 worshipers, the facility soon became known as “The Cow Palace”.
Perhaps one of the activities that helped to bring the worshipers together was the weekly ritual of replacing nursery school furniture with adult-sized folding chairs and worship aides. This was not a small task inasmuch as the reverse process of set up had to be completed after services so preschoolers could use the building during the week.
The Hazelwild Farm location provided many opportunities for fellowship, picnics, and recreational experiences. Christmas Eve services in a barn with a live infant Jesus and farm animals in a stable were particularly memorable, and many will recall surrounding the living Christmas scene, holding their lit tapers and joining voices in singing Silent Night, Holy Night.
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