St. Simon's began in 1960 with summer Sunday School being held on the front porch of Adelaide and Charles Snyder's cottage. The cottage was destroyed during the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 so for the next several years Sunday services moved to the porch of a cottage belonging to an Episcopal priest from Richmond, the Rev. Bill Egelhoff.
In 1966, under the guidance of the Rev. Jack Chamblin, James (Cue) Kabler donated to the Diocese a three acre plot to establish a mission in Sandbridge. With a budget of $12K, a small open-air chapel and two bedroom cottage were built on the property by Peter Meredith, Sr. The Vicar of All Saints' Mission in Virginia Beach, the Rev. Joe Pinder, was given the additional responsibility for the Sandbridge Mission. Each year thereafter, clergy from the Diocese vacationed in the cottage and held services through the summer.
In 1980, a covenant was signed between the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond for joint use of the chapel and the chapel was enlarged to accomodate 300 people. Catholic masses ended at the chapel with the establishment of St. John the Apostle Catholic Church on Sandbridge Road.
September 1990 saw the formation of the first year 'round congregation of 14 people and services were held in the cottage.This milestone resulted from the efforts of the Rev. Jack Chamblin and Sam Ames. Sam served as Sr. Warden for 25 years!
The following year, removable walls were constructed by Steve Haberdash allowing open-air church in the summer and walled-in services in the winter. Since then we have offered year 'round services with visiting clergy conduction worship from June through September. For the last ten years, from October through May, the Rev. Marni J. Schneider, led the congregation in worship.
Our new Priest-in-Charge, the Rev. Dale Hirst, joined us in March, 2017.
We hope you will find a church home here and join YOUR history to ours!
