The St. Benedict Monastery has been part of Prince William County's Bristow area since 1894. It has changed and reinvented itself throughout its history, but the foundation of who they are remained the same, providing quality education and charitable resources to the community.

The monastery's history is connected to the Linton Family of Bristow through Sarah Elliott Graham Linton, who joined the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary in 1844, and her name changed to Sister Mary Baptista. According to "The Linton's Living Legacy" by John T. Toler, Sarah was the fifth generation of the Linton family and co-owner of the nearly 1800-acre estate left to her after her father died in 1821 and her mother Cecilia Ann Graham in 1878. She decided that what was left over from selling a part of the land would be given to the Benedictine monks for educational and charitable purposes.

From the Historic Site file records, since 1894, the Benedictine sisters have adapted the campus over the centuries to meet the educational needs of the Bristow and surrounding neighborhoods of Prince William County. From 1894-1927, the Benedictine Monks from the Belmont Abbey located in North Carolina established the St. Josephs industrial school for boys, a place where impoverished boys could come to learn a skill and get an education. The Benedictine Sisters from Richmond established the St. Edith's Academy for girls (1894-1922). After WWI, the schools were no longer viable enough to sustain enrollment due to demographics, the rural location of the schools, and educational trends at the time.

In 1922, the Benedictine sisters relocated the school for girls to Richmond, and that became St. Gertrude's High School, which still exists today and is known for its "superior academic program." In 1927, the Benedictine monks left the campus to the care of the Benedictine sisters and returned to North Carolina. In 1931, the Benedict sisters converted the schools on the Bristow campus into the Linton Hall Military School. It had a commandant, and one of the sisters was appointed principal. Once it closed in the early 1980s, the campus changed again into a traditional day school named the "Linton Hall School," a coeducational school for grades K-8. In 2004, a pre-K program was added. Linton Hall School is well known for having high education standards and a strong Parent School Guild, equivalent to a PTA.

The monastery did not last this long without the community's support, and since its beginnings, it has demonstrated various ways to give back to those in need. For example, Toler explains that in 1898, they provided food and a place for prayer for US troops traveling from Camp Alger, MD, stopping at Camp Springs near Bristow on their way to Thoroughfare Gap during the Spanish-American War. Students established a Red Cross Auxiliary on campus to make bandages for the troops during WWI. Currently, as listed on their website, they offer several programs as a form of outreach to meet the needs of a changing community in Prince William County, such as the Benedictine Educational Assistance Community Outreach to Neighbors program or (BEACON), to provide English as a Second Language (ESL) and high school equivalency classes, as well as workshops covering a wide range of topics for adults.

They partnered with the Master Gardeners of Prince William (MGPW) to create a Teaching Garden located at the monastery. The food grown in the garden is donated to feed the hungry, and the gardens are used to teach people how to grow vegetables and low-maintenance gardening using plant material that grows well locally. To learn more, visit the MGPW "Teaching Garden" section of their website.

The Benedictine Sisters of Virginia reflect how remaining true to their core values of charity, hospitality, spiritual faith, and education have contributed to their ability to adapt to the changes of their community and renew the purpose for which the land was given.

To learn more about the St. Benedict Monastery, RELIC’s digital archive gives access to Historic Sites Files, including various documents, articles, and photographs of the Linton Family estate, St. Joseph's Industrial School, St. Edith's Academy, and Linton Hall Military Academy. There are books and photographs onsite at RELIC as well.