Founded in 1895, St. Mark AME called the stone edifice on James Brawley Drive their second home after they lost their first building to fire in 1948. They took over the space after the Western Heights Baptist Church vacated the building.
The church was built in 1920 using Stone Mountain granite. Designed by architect Charles Hopson, the church was built by fitting the stone together like a puzzle instead of cutting them.
The church received landmark status in 2022.
St. Paul AME Church was founded in 1877.
The marker of Martha Griffin (1874-1933) utilizes marbles set in concrete for a handmade headstone. Folk art headstones using marbles can frequently be found in rural church cemeteries.
Located in Buckhead, the New Hope AME church is an anomaly compared to the exclusive homes that run along Arden Road. The vernacular church resembles many Black churches in rural Georgia with the central gable and tower. The church was founded in 1869 by newly freedmen and women. James H. Smith, a white Buckhead farmer, donated three acres of land to the congregation to build a church and a school.
The original church building was destroyed by fire in 1927. The current building consists of a 1928 basement and a 1936 sanctuary.
The school burned in 1942.
The cemetery’s earliest burial is 1889. Since the cemetery photos were taken, the cemetery has been restored.
I assume the building on the right was a lodge and, perhaps, a school.
The congregation was established in 1868, making it one of the first Black congregations on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
