Bath in Beaufort County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)
Bath African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
Photographed By Mike Stroud
1. Bath African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Marker
Inscription.
Bath African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. . This site marks the former location of the Bath African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. The AME Zion denomination, chartered in New York City in 1801, began in the 1790s when discrimination against African American Christians forced them to form their own churches. Constructed sometime between 1895 and 1900, archaeological excavations conducted in 1997 indicated a twenty feet by thirty-three feet timber-framed structure resting on brick piers. No photographs of the church are known to survive but it looked much like the drawing at right, based on the oral histories of Bath residents and archaeological findings., Little is known about the church or its congregation but it appears that the membership dwindled until the last services in the mid-1940s. The building eventually fell into disrepair and disappeared from the landscape shortly after 1955., This cast iron bell to the right, the only remaining artifact of the AME Zion Church, called members to worship. Thanks to the preservation efforts of a neighboring property owner, the bell is once again in place on the former church lot. Parishioners are buried in a cemetery located to the left and a cemetery marker, dedicated in 1996 and containing the names of the interred, stands nearby. Religious institutions like the AME Zion Church played a major role in African American social and political development and the Bath church helps convey that important story.
This site marks the former location of the Bath African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. The AME Zion denomination, chartered in New York City in 1801, began in the 1790s when discrimination against African American Christians forced them to form their own churches. Constructed sometime between 1895 and 1900, archaeological excavations conducted in 1997 indicated a twenty feet by thirty-three feet timber-framed structure resting on brick piers. No photographs of the church are known to survive but it looked much like the drawing at right, based on the oral histories of Bath residents and archaeological findings.
Little is known about the church or its congregation but it appears that the membership dwindled until the last services in the mid-1940s. The building eventually fell into disrepair and disappeared from the landscape shortly after 1955.
This cast iron bell to the right, the only remaining artifact of the AME Zion Church, called members to worship. Thanks to the preservation efforts of a neighboring property owner, the bell is once again in place on the former church lot. Parishioners are buried in a cemetery located to the left and a cemetery marker, dedicated in 1996 and containing the names of the interred, stands nearby. Religious institutions like the AME Zion Church played a major role
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in African American social and political development and the Bath church helps convey that important story.
Location. 35° 28.232′ N, 76° 48.782′ W. Marker is in Bath, North Carolina, in Beaufort County. Marker is on Front Street near King Street, on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Bath NC 27808, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Photographed By Bath African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Marker, `
2. The church would have looked like this drawing by Steve Allen.
Photographed By Bath African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Marker, `
3. Archaeological excavations of a brick pier
Photographed By Bath African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Marker, `
4. The 1996 dedication of the cemetery marker
Photographed By Mike Stroud, April 19, 2013
5. Bath African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Marker and cast iron bell, as mentioned
Photographed By Mike Stroud, April 19, 2013
6. Bath African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church site and Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on June 3, 2013, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. This page has been viewed 1,295 times since then and 30 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on June 3, 2013, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina.