This Building Tells Many Stories

This Building Tells Many Stories. . This historic church has served as the home of Dickerson Chapel AME Church since 1867. But its story begins much earlier, in 1790, when it was built as the Orange County Courthouse, on a site two blocks to the south. At that time it was a plain wood building with large rectangular windows. After the county built a new courthouse in 1846, the old courthouse was sold to Elias Dodson, a Baptist missionary, who believed the unwanted structure could serve as a church. He moved the building up Churton Street to this site - a process said to have required as many as 100 men working for eight days. Hillsborough's First Baptist Church was officially organized here in 1853 and remained in this building until 1862., During the Civil War, the building became a woodworking shop where furniture and coffins were made by George Bishop, who had fled to Hillsborough from New Bern to escape the Union occupation of the coast. He sold it in 1866 to a Quaker group called "the Friends Association of Philadelphia and vicinity for the Relief of Colored Freedmen," with help from Rev. Job Berry., The old courthouse then became Hillsborough's first school for Black children and adults. By 1867, Rev. Berry and Rev. Billy Payne began holding church services here for their newly-formed African Methodist Episcopal (AME) congregation, later named Dickerson Chapel to honor William F. Dickerson (1845-1884), a bishop of the national AME Church. The building was updated with Gothic-style windows in 1891 and covered with brick veneer in 1947., Church Fathers , Rev. Job Berry (1810-1880) pastored home congregations in Hillsborough during the 1850's. In 1865 Rev. Job Berry established this church and freedmen's school. His wife, Rebecca Nash, was the cook for the Nash and Kollock School. Their children attended the freedmen's school. Their son Lisbon Berry graduated from Biddle Institute and was an attorney. Lisbon Berry established schools for Black families in North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee., Billy Payne (1809-1890) pastored home congregations in Orange County during the nineteenth century. After his ordination by the AME Church, Rev. Billy Payne established Dickerson Chapel. He is buried at Margaret Lane Cemetery. His widow Elsey Little Dove moved to live with their son Hayles Payne, a US Army Buffalo Soldier and National Park Service police officer in Washington, DC., Freedmen's School , Between 1835 and 1865 it was illegal in North Carolina for Black people to preach or teach, yet education, like religion, was highly valued in the Black community. In 1865 Job Berry took the lead in acquiring this building for a school. By means of a community fair and contributions solicited from townspeople he raised $800 to partner with a group of Quakers from Philadelphia to purchase the building and establish a school for over 300 Black children and adults. Trustees in 1866 were Sam Whitted, Bill Ellison, Jim Nichols, Frank Turrentine, Charles Day, J. Hooker, and J.T. Wallace., Teachers for the school included Quaker women from Philadelphia, local businessman Haywood Beverly, and Robert Fitzgerald, grandfather of Pauli Murray. As older scholars learned, they taught younger students. Rev. Job Berry saw daughters Alice, Mary, Martha, and Susan become teachers., Expert Craftmanship , Enslaved carpenters, working in 1790 crafted the fine oak and pine timber frame of the original courthouse structure. These craftsmen used Roman numerals to help assemble these heavy roof beams, which are still standing after 230 years.