People at St. John’s Episcopal Church will travel to the past this Sunday with historical facts and prayer.

The church will host a group of 18th-century re-enactors at 3 p.m., led by Chesapeake resident Tim Platek, who will portray a minister from the year 1775. Davis of the 1st Regiment of Light Dragoons, according to an email from the Rev. Leslie Ferguson. Platek is a member of the 7^th Virginia Regiment, a unit of Revolutionary War re-enactors

“He has done a number of re-enactments across Southern Virginia — from Williamsburg to Yorktown all the way to Great Bridge,” Ferguson wrote.

The reenactment will be set in December, 1775. British Lord Dunmore had declared martial law in Virginia in November 1775 when the colony erupted in open rebellion against British rule.

It was later that November when the newly formed 2nd Virginia Regiment made its way through Suffolk towards Great Bridge, to combat British forces in what’s now Chesapeake. This re-enactment will cover that regiment’s journey and the overall unrest in the colony. Members of the 7^th Virginia regiment will likely be dressed in their civilian clothes and are also expecting to have assistance from the Youth Virginia Regiment, according to Platek.

Ferguson believes that the re-enactment can provide audiences an insight into the local community’s core “DNA.”

“This re-enactment is also intriguing for the community, because it helps shine a light on the gravity of history that is ‘just around the corner’ in Suffolk and the surrounding cities,” he wrote.

There will be a worship service using the 1662 Book of Common Prayer following the re-enactment, as well as period hymns led by the re-enactors. This would have been the same text used in worship at Chuckatuck Church, which was renamed St. John’s in the early 1800s, Ferguson wrote.

The re-enactors will be available to answer questions after the service, which is open to the public.

“We are encouraging the community to accept our invitation to showcase our church and the foundation we provide in Suffolk,” Ferguson wrote.

For more information, call the church office until Thursday afternoon at 255-4168, or search for “St. John’s Episcopal Church, Suffolk VA” on Facebook.