WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Colonial Williamsburg is preparing for a frame raising ceremony this Saturday for a replica of the 1810 African Baptist meeting house, where free and enslaved Black residents once worshipped.
The replica is being built using 18th-century methods and tools, a deliberate choice by the historic carpenters involved in the project.
"Saturday we're gonna have what they call an old fashioned, um, timber raising or frame raising," says Janice Canaday, who is the African-American Community Engagement Manager for Colonial Williamsburg.
Harold Caldwell, a historic carpenter at Colonial Williamsburg, explained what makes this project unlike a typical rebuild.
"In terms of today's standards, we are historic carpenters here at Colonial Williamsburg, meaning that we build these structures and using 18th century methods and tools. About 90-95% of our work is using the tools that they used then 250 years ago," Harold said.
The history behind the church stretches back to when this country declared its independence from Great Britain.
"Few people know that in Williamsburg in 1776 the black population was 52% free and enslaved. They built a church. They worshiped here freely," says Connie Matthews a church member and President of the Let Freedom Ring Foundation.
The congregation eventually relocated and is now known as 1st Baptist Williamsburg. Old photographs document the groundbreaking for that church in 1956.
News 3 has reported on a significant discovery at the original church location about six years ago, when burial sites were uncovered beneath what had been an asphalt parking lot. Matthews was interviewed for that story, "You have the markers, granite markers of the 62 intact burials that were discovered, after exploration of an asphalt parking lot that sat here for more than 70 years. We know that they are the congregants of the early church." Matthews says.
The grave site and the replica church building are connected to the current congregation, which worships just a few blocks away.
And the history is very rich at that location as well.
That history includes a visit from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who spoke to the congregation in 1962. Reginald F. Davis, the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Williamsburg showed me where that happened,"This is the pulpit that Dr. King spoke from. Same pew, same pulpit, everything," Davis points out. And shares what that means when he reflects on that visit, "History. Greatness, history, this man was a, a, a national, an international figure to be able to come to this church and speak to this congregation that was founded in 1776".
The replica of the African Baptist Meeting House is expected to open in October, that Matthews acknowledges coincides with an important anniversary of the church, "250 years, a legacy of faith and freedom!"
This additional information was provided by organizers:
Media Advisory
Saturday, July 18: Frame Raising Ceremony for Restoration of African Baptist Meeting House and Burial Ground
WHAT: Colonial Williamsburg, in partnership with the First Baptist Church of Williamsburg and the Let Freedom Ring Foundation, will conduct a frame raising as it reconstructs the original structure of the African Baptist Meeting House, the site of one of America’s earliest African American church congregations.
A ceremony including the pastors of First Baptist Church and daughter/grand-daughter churches will precede the frame raising – pulling up the first wall of what will be a 16-foot-by-32-foot reproduction of the 1805 structure where free and enslaved Black worshippers gathered.
WHEN: July 18, 9-10:30 a.m. Frame raising will follow the ceremony.
WHERE: African Baptist Meeting House and Burial Ground, 105 S. Nassau St.
- Parking
- Parking Lot next to the Campbell Archaeology Center (400 S. Nassau St.), which is across the street from the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg (301. S Nassau St.). Enter Parking Lot from Newport Ave.
- Prince George Street Parking Garage – 230 N. Henry St.
WHO: Colonial Williamsburg CEO Carly Fiorina will be joined by:
- Janice Canaday, African American community engagement manager at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
- Reginald F. Davis, pastor of First Baptist Church
- Connie Harshaw, president of the Let Freedom Ring Foundation
- Jack Gary, associate vice president of Historic Resources and Kahler family director of Archaeology at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
- Jennifer Wilkoski, director of architectural preservation and research at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
EXTRAS:
- The descendant community will hammer nine pegs through the bottom of the frame to secure it to the foundation. Pastors from Historic First Baptist Church, its daughter and grand-daughter churches will hammer them in, children from the churches will pass the pegs to the location during the ceremony.
- The African Baptist Meeting House is a timber framed building. Corner braces are one of the components. Each of the six braces are four feet long and provide the primary support of the building. Historic trades carpenters at Colonial Williamsburg made them. The Foundation’s Janice Canaday dropped a brace off at First Baptist Church and each of the churches for the congregations to sign. The braces will be permanently encased in the building and is one way the Foundation is incorporating the descendant community in the work.
- In 2024, Colonial Williamsburg’s brickmakers made the brick for the foundation of the church. The staff invited members of the community to sign their names prior to firing them. The bricks were used to pave the crawlspace of the building. They won’t be seen, but they will be a permanent part of the building.
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