Williamsburg's First Baptist Church rededicates its rebuilt 1805 meeting house as the congregation marks 250 years

Hundreds of people gathered on Friday, Oct. 9, on South Nassau Street in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, to rededicate the reconstructed African Baptist Meeting House. It was the original church building of First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, one of the oldest Black congregations in the United States, the Associated Press (AP) and WYDaily (Williamsburg Yorktown Daily) reported. The ceremony was part of a four-day celebration of the congregation's 250th anniversary, which ends Sunday.

According to the AP, the congregation was founded in 1776 by enslaved and free African Americans who met in secret in defiance of laws barring them from gathering. In 1805, members built a meeting house from recycled bricks and salvaged materials. A tornado destroyed it in 1834, and it was rebuilt in 1856. In the 20th century the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the living-history museum that runs the historic area, turned the site into a parking lot because the building did not fit the town's 18th-century look. The congregation has worshipped on Scotland Street since 1956, WYDaily reported.

Colonial Williamsburg and the Let Freedom Ring Foundation began investigating the original site in March 2020, WYDaily reported. Archaeologists found the church's foundation in 2021, along with 62 burial shafts linked to the congregation; DNA and bone analysis connected three sets of remains to it, the AP said. The 16-by-32-foot reconstruction uses pine and white oak and handmade "restoration glass" windows. Construction began in 2025. Finishing work, including an accessible ramp, is expected to be done by December, according to WYDaily.

"What this day means and shows is that Black history is American history," the Rev. Reginald F. Davis, pastor of First Baptist, told the AP. Speakers included Virginia state Sen. Mamie Locke and James Ingram, who for 26 years portrayed Gowan Pamphlet, the enslaved preacher who led the congregation when the meeting house was built. Ingram handed the role to a new interpreter, Brandon Lee. "This is not only a dream come true, but an honor and a privilege to see this day," Ingram said, according to WYDaily.