Williamsburg, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
African American Baptist Meetinghouse Exhibit
Colonial Williamsburg
Photographed by Brandon D Cross, June 23, 2023
1. African American Baptist Meetinghouse Exhibit Marker
Inscription.
African American Baptist Meetinghouse Exhibit. . This exhibition traces the religious heritage of transported Africans and their descendants in Virginia and the development of an African American Baptist congregation in Williamsburg in the late eighteenth century. Drawn to the message of equality before God during the Great Awakening, African Americans Moses and Gowan Pamphlet preached to slaves and free blacks in secret outside of town in the 1770s and 1780s. After 1800 the congregation met in plain sight in this part of Williamsburg, first in a carriage house, then in a brick church built in 1855. This reconstruction of the Taliaferro Cole stable stands near the site of First Baptist Church, in use until the congregation moved to a new church on Scotland Street in 1956.
This exhibition traces the religious heritage of transported Africans and their descendants in Virginia and the development of an African American Baptist congregation in Williamsburg in the late eighteenth century. Drawn to the message of equality before God during the Great Awakening, African Americans Moses and Gowan Pamphlet preached to slaves and free blacks in secret outside of town in the 1770s and 1780s. After 1800 the congregation met in plain sight in this part of Williamsburg, first in a carriage house, then in a brick church built in 1855. This reconstruction of the Taliaferro Cole stable stands near the site of First Baptist Church, in use until the congregation moved to a new church on Scotland Street in 1956.
Location. 37° 16.231′ N, 76° 42.23′ W. Marker is in Williamsburg, Virginia. It is on South Nassau Street south of West Duke of Gloucester Street, on the left when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 220C S Nassau St, Williamsburg VA 23185, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is on Virginia’s Peninsula, in Coastal Virginia, and in the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Area. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, and in the Tidewater. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
2. African American Baptist Meetinghouse Exhibit Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on January 13, 2025. It was originally submitted on July 21, 2023, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida. This page has been viewed 271 times since then and 18 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on July 21, 2023, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.
