Historic First Baptist Church

The First Baptist Church of Williamsburg got its start in 1776, when a free Black traveling preacher known as Reverend Moses organized a group of enslaved and free Black people who wanted to worship God in the way they saw fit. Today it’s one of the oldest continuous congregations organized by Black Americans in the country.

Their first church was a temporary brush shelter, which the group erected on a nearby plantation and secretly gathered to sing and pray. Later they moved to another brush arbor at Raccoon Chase, a wooded area south of Jamestown Road, for their meetings. In 1781, guided by enslaved minister Gowan Pamphlet, the congregation became Baptist.

Eventually, a white landowner named Jesse Coles was so taken by their worship that he gave the church members a carriage house along Williamsburg’s Nassau Street—undeterred by the fact that laws at the time banned Black people from gathering—to hold their services. But it wasn’t until 1856, when a tornado destroyed the carriage house, that they built their own “brick sanctuary.” This served as the congregation’s home for the next century. It moved to its present location, 727 Scotland Street, in 1956. Today it’s known as the First Baptist Church.

During the Civil Rights era, the Rev. David Collins led demonstrations at the church for fair hiring practices. Dr. Martin Lurther King Jr. also spoke here in 1962.

Over the years, the church has gone by various names including the African Baptist Church and the First Baptist Church of Williamsburg. But despite multiple locations and iterations, the congregation is still going strong.