Eric Schindler Gallery

Church Hill is known as the site of Virginia's second revolutionary convention where Patrick Henry gave his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech in St. John's Episcopal Church.

On Friday, October 2, 1925, a 4,000-foot Chesapeake and Ohio railroad single track tunnel built during Reconstruction collapsed under Church Hill. The Church Hill Tunnel collapse occurred during refurbishment works, killing 4 and engulfing a work train. The tunnel was closed and filled-in after the collapse. The bricked-in entrance of the collapsed tunnel can still be seen at the south east end of the alley just north of Marshall Street, on 18th Street. The work train remains sealed inside the tunnel, along with the bodies of 2 workers that were never recovered.