Episcopal Church. Diocese of Virginia. Archdeaconry of the Blue Ridge

The Archdeaconry of the Blue Ridge of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Virginia evolved out of the missionary work to the people of the Blue Ridge Mountains begun as a local effort in 1888 by Rev. Frederick William Neve, rector of St. Paul's Church, Ivy (Albermarle County) and Emmanuel Church, Greenwood (Green County). In 1904, the Annual Council of the Diocese of Virginia appointed Neve to be Archdeacon in charge of a diocesan mission to the people of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Albemarle, Greene, Madison, Page, and Rockingham Counties, a post he held until his death in 1948. The Annual Council of 1906 created the Advisory Board of the Archdeaconry of the Blue Ridge to administer the work, which was replaced by a Board of Mountain Work in 1930 when the Archdeaconry was included as a special missionary jurisdiction in the official canonical structure of the Diocese of Virginia. In 1926, the Rev. Wiley Roy Mason was appointed to the post of Associate Archdeacon of the Blue Ridge, a title superseded by his 1942 election as Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Virginia with Special Jurisdiction Over the Mountain Work. The creation of Shenandoah National Park, created 1927-1935 in the area served by the Archdeaconry, resulted in the displacement of many people served by the mission and the closure of many of its churches and schools. In 1953, the Archdeaconry was officially dissolved and the work supervised by the Committee of Mountain Work of the Department of Missions of the Diocese of Virginia, with the Rev. Albert N. Jones appointed as Administrator of Mountain Missions.