AFRICAN BAPTIST CHURCH 509 Court Street

Near this spot stood Lynchburg’s first African American church, known as the “African Baptist Church.” Its congregation consisted entirely of enslaved and free Black members, although by law it had White ministers and trustees. The two-story structure, which had been an old theater, was repurposed as “a place of public worship for the colored people of the town of Lynchburg and its vicinity” in 1843. It burned in 1866, and a new church was built on the site in 1867.