Portsmouth, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)

Emanuel A.M.E. Church

Aboard "the great Underground Railroad"

Photographed by Evan Dwyer, October 18, 2025

1. Emanuel A.M.E. Church Marker

Inscription.

Emanuel A.M.E. Church. Aboard "the great Underground Railroad". , The church behind yu was in the center of Portsmouth's Underground Railroad activity late in the 1850s. Built in 1857 and first called the African Methodist Society, both the building and several members of the congregation - mostly free Blacks - likely sheltered self-liberating enslaved persons and smuggled them aboard ships and fishing boats bound for the North., Originally located in the Glasgow Street Methodist Church sanctuary and later moving to its current North Street location, the congregants were supportive of Underground Railroad activities. The neighborhoods around the two churches were especially active at nigh, with escaping persons slipping in and out of buildings, headed for the docks, while white "patrollers" roamed the streets and guarded the vessels., Jane Pyatt (b. ca. 1849), enslaved in Portsmouth as a cild, recalled in 1937 that some escaping persons hid in the cellar of "an old brick building" in the same block in which the church was built. Nearby were located the Elizabeth River ferry, as well as wharves and ships. A writer to the American Beacon (Norfolk) newspaper in April 1854 believed that most of those escaping avoided the docks and large ships, which were well patrolled, and instead slipped aboard "oyster vessels and the like" that plied the "adjacent rivers and coves… day and night," and which together comprised "the great Underground Railroad." Subsequent church members claimed that small groups concealed themselves in a crawl space behind the organ as well as in the cellar, and used the attic as a lookout post., Today, Emanuel A.M.E. Church stands as a memorial to the enslaved who passed this way as they freed themselves, and to those who helped them on their way., [Captions:] , Escaping from Norfolk, from William Still, The Underground Railroad (1872), Mrs. Jane Pyatt Courtesy Portsmouth Public Library, African M.E. Church and Parsonage, from Edward Pollock, Sketch Book of Portsmouth, Va. (1886)

The church behind yu was in the center of Portsmouth's Underground Railroad activity late in the 1850s. Built in 1857 and first called the African Methodist Society, both the building and several members of the congregation - mostly free Blacks - likely sheltered self-liberating enslaved persons and smuggled them aboard ships and fishing boats bound for the North.

Originally located in the Glasgow Street Methodist Church sanctuary and later moving to its current North Street location, the congregants were supportive of Underground Railroad activities. The neighborhoods around the two churches were especially active at nigh, with escaping persons slipping in and out of buildings, headed for the docks, while white "patrollers" roamed the streets and guarded the vessels.

Jane Pyatt (b. ca. 1849), enslaved in Portsmouth as a cild, recalled in 1937 that some escaping persons hid in the cellar of "an old brick building" in the same block in which the church was built. Nearby were located the Elizabeth River ferry, as well as wharves and ships. A writer to the American Beacon (Norfolk) newspaper in April 1854 believed

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that most of those escaping avoided the docks and large ships, which were well patrolled, and instead slipped aboard "oyster vessels and the like" that plied the "adjacent rivers and coves… day and night," and which together comprised "the great Underground Railroad." Subsequent church members claimed that small groups concealed themselves in a crawl space behind the organ as well as in the cellar, and used the attic as a lookout post.

Today, Emanuel A.M.E. Church stands as a memorial to the enslaved who passed this way as they freed themselves, and to those who helped them on their way.

[Captions:]
Escaping from Norfolk, from William Still, The Underground Railroad (1872)

Mrs. Jane Pyatt Courtesy Portsmouth Public Library

African M.E. Church and Parsonage, from Edward Pollock, Sketch Book of Portsmouth, Va. (1886)

Erected by Virginia Civil War Trails.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Religion & Religious Structures • War, US Civil • Waterways & Vessels. In addition, it is included in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, and the

Emanuel A.M.E. Church image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Evan Dwyer, October 18, 2025

2. Emanuel A.M.E. Church

The parsonage shown in the illustration on the marker used to stand on the green to the right. The marker itself stands alongside a Path of History Marker about Lincolnsville just out of frame to the left, on the sidewalk in front of the church's parking lot. Note the church has been renovated and does not appear as it did during the Civil War and Underground Railroad eras, its dominant architectural features instead dating to its 1881 remodeling.

Virginia Civil War Trails series lists.

Location. 36° 50.295′ N, 76° 18.281′ W. Marker is in Portsmouth, Virginia. It is on North Street 0.1 miles east of Green Street, on the right when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 637 North Street, Portsmouth VA 23704, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Virginia’s Hampton Roads,

specifically in Coastal Virginia,

and in the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Area.

It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Upper South,

in the Tidewater,

and on the Eastern Seaboard. 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.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Lincolnsville (here, next to this marker); Birthplace of Dr. James W. Holley III

Photographed by Evan Dwyer, October 18, 2025

3. Emanuel A.M.E. Church

Stone build & renovation dates inset above the North Street entrance.

(a few steps from this marker); Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (a few steps from this marker); Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones (within shouting distance of this marker); Richard Dale, U.S.N. (within shouting distance of this marker); a different marker also named Emanuel A.M.E. Church (within shouting distance of this marker); Ruth Brown (within shouting distance of this marker); St. John's Church (about 500 feet away, measured in a direct line). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Portsmouth.

Photographed by Evan Dwyer, October 18, 2025

4. Emanuel A.M.E. Church

This view is from North Street just in front of the marker. The marker is just out of sight to the left of the frame, in the grass between the road & sidewalk.

Credits. This page was last revised on June 1, 2026. It was originally submitted on February 10, 2026, by Evan Dwyer of Richmond, Virginia. This page has been viewed 47 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on February 10, 2026, by Evan Dwyer of Richmond, Virginia. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.