First Baptist Church

Archaeologists in the United States believe they discovered the original brick base of one of the  oldest historic black churches in the country, the First Baptist Church.

Highlights

• The Church located at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia’s historic site and museum.
• It was founded in the year 1776 by enslaved and free and enslaved blacks who came together even when laws prohibited the congregation of African Americans.
• Jack Gary, Director of Archeology at the Colonial Williamsburg is overseeing this excavation.
• The resistance of this group and the fact that they still exist today is truly an American story.
• Archaeologists have been excavating the site of the original church structure near the intersection of Francis streets and Nassau in Colonial Williamsburg since the month of September of the year 2020.
• The project is supported by Church leaders, whose members include descendants of those who attended services centuries ago.

About the Foundation

In the year 1818, the congregation used to meet at this site in a building which is known as the Baptist Meeting House. In the year 1834 a tornado destroyed this meeting place. A second church building, a brick building, was built in the year 1856 and stood there for around a century. Later it was purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in the year 1956. This building was demolished that year and the community moved to another building block. The newly identified brick building is located next to a brick pavement and on a layer of earth from the early 19th century. Artefacts found under the pavement included pin and a coin from the year 1817. This suggests that the foundations were built sometime in the first quarter of the 19th century. 25  burial sites have also been discovered.