WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA — Members of the Winchester Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints led a groundbreaking ceremony for what will be the region’s first temple on Aug. 9.

About 500 people assembled for the ceremony on what is currently a cleared lot at 200 Merrimans Lane in Winchester. Included among the guests were representatives of local governments, schools and nonprofits, as well as leaders of the area’s faith community and Latter-day Saints (Mormon) church officials from as far away as Colorado.

Elder Robert M. Daines joked that some of the attendees may have been there by mistake.

“Some of you were just driving by and saw the crowd and thought it was a pancake breakfast,” said Daines, a senior Latter-day Saints church official with the title General Authority Seventy who offered a prayer of dedication to bless the forthcoming Winchester temple.

Daines is second counselor of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ United States Northeast Area, which includes more than 643,000 members, 1,300 congregations, 141 stakes (areas that serve multiple congregations) and 11 temples, as well as seven more temples that have been announced or are under construction. The Northeast Area serves Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont, plus Washington, D.C., Bermuda, Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

Dozens of specially invited guests became part of Saturday morning’s groundbreaking ceremony by picking up shovels and turning over scoopfuls of red clay dirt for the symbolic start of the 30,000-square-foot, single-story temple’s construction.

“The temple is a place where we learn, reflect, improve and enter into sacred covenants, or promises,” said guest speaker Wyatt Miles of the church’s stake in Martinsburg, West Virginia. “The scriptures, both ancient and modern, consistently emphasize these principles and the importance of worship in the lord’s house.”

The Winchester temple, which was first announced in April 2023 at the close of the church’s two-day General Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, is being built on 11.27 acres of land next to John Kerr Elementary School. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased the site in September 2023 for $9,867,000, according to Winchester property records.

The new temple is expected to serve approximately 23,400 church members in 69 congregations in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.

“As we celebrate the commencement of the construction of this house of the lord, let us remember the reason that we build these sacred temples,” said Aaron C. Blight, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Winchester Stake. “It is so that we can make covenants with our heavenly father and receive priesthood ordinances that will bind us to him and to the savior, Jesus Christ.”

Temples, Daines said, differ from the sanctuaries used by the Latter-day Saints on a regular basis for worship, education and community service.

“There are about 30,000 chapels where members of the church go every week for a Sunday worship service,” he said. “Temples are places where we go less often. They’re for us sacred houses where we go to make promises and covenants and ordinances with our heavenly father. It’s where we do our weddings and other ordinances. So the regular worship is done in the normal chapels, and less often we come here for special ceremonies and teaching and learning.”

“After my husband passed away, I intentionally tried to spend as much time in the temple as I had opportunity. So many stressful situations that I didn’t know how to handle concerning the care of our home came into my life,” said guest speaker Stephanie Ashcroft of the stake in Clarksburg, West Virginia. “I did seek guidance in the temple, and it was honestly amazing how those situations were resolved.”

Since the Winchester temple will only be used for special occasions and will be closed on Sundays, Daines said the two Latter-day Saints churches in Winchester — at 399 Apple Pie Ridge Road and 230 Justes Drive — will remain open and continue normal operations.

No targeted opening date for the Winchester temple has been announced, but Blight said construction could take a few years to finalize.

Immediately prior to the temple’s opening, Ruth Daines said there will be an open house for everyone in the community.

“So if you want to see the inside of a temple, that’s a good time to go,” she said. “Anyone from the community can walk through and get a little tour and kind of see what goes on there.”

Virginia currently has one Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple, and it’s located in Richmond. Winchester’s temple will be the state’s second, and a third is planned for Roanoke.

“I’m still pinching myself that there’s going to be a temple in Winchester, Virginia,” Blight said. “It’s a big deal.”