Built in 1848 and consecrated in 1853, the Zion Episcopal Church in Talbotton, Georgia was recently restored. This carpenter gothic style church served as a congregation for a planter class of families who had relocated from the coast.
Like many antebellum churches, the church was built with a slave gallery that still lines the upper perimeter of the church. The doors were locked, so I was unable to document the inside.
It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The backside of the church as viewed from the roadMarker for Elizabeth Margaret White, 1813-1850
Built in 1893, the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany is located just off downtown Spartanburg. It’s one of the few Black Episcopal congregations left in the South. Prior to the pandemic, The State wrote an article on how the congregation continues to shrink. At the time of the article, six people were in attendance at the service covered by the newspaper.
The Good Shepherd Episcopal Church and School are two buildings that remain of a historic Black community known as Pennick in Glynn County, Georgia. The school and church were founded by Deaconess Anna Alexander in the early 20th Century. Deaconess Alexander was the first Black deaconess in the Episcopal Church. in 1998, she was named a Saint of Georgia by the Diocese of Georgia.
This Carpenter Gothic church is located in Prairieville, Alabama. The congregation of St. Andrews Episcopal Church was founded in 1834. Enslaved laborers built this incredible church in 1856. These builders were loaned to the church by members who were slaveholders.
The cemetery contains a significant amount of ironwork and fencing. Many posts featured common symbols found in a cemetery. The upside-down torch represents a life that has ended or snuffed out. The arrows represent mortality. If you look closely at the road, you will see three leaves, and that represents the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Glen Allan, Mississippi is located in the Mississippi Delta region of Washington County. Built in 1830, it was one of the first churches in the area. During the Civil War, the stained glass windows were supposedly removed to assist in the Civil War efforts by using the lead in the windows for bullets.
This began the decline of the church building. Unfortunately, it was hit by a tornado in the early 1900s, and the outer brick walls were destroyed leaving most of what you see today.
This the funeral marker for Jesse Crowell, the only person of color to be buried in the adjacent cemetery. The marker reads, “Born into slavery and held by the Turnbull family, he was a master craftsman who directed the construction of St. John’s Episcopal Church. He supervised the preparation of timber from the forests, as well as bricks made on site by fellow slaves. He personally carved the wood for the chancel rail and pulpit, creating his own design from the leaves of native trees. A devoted Christian, he became the church’s sexton for the remainder of his life. When he died, Bishop Wm. Mercer Green, Sr. preached his funeral from the church, and Jesse became the only person of color ever buried in Greenfield Cemetery.”I cannot confirm what this is, but I asked some cemetery experts, and they believe that it was a holding vault for the cemetery that is located next to the churchyard.
Outside of Carlton, Alabama, Mt. Nebo Baptist Church’s cemetery contains death masks created by Isaac Nettles. Nettles created these masks by making molds of the subjects’ faces while they were still alive, which is different from the traditional death mask made after someone passes. The three-person marker represents Isaac and Cora’s three daughters and rests atop Cora’s grave. There are two other markers made by Nettles. These are deteriorating quickly. In 2020, Hurricane Sally caused significant damage to the masks. These are incredible pieces of folk art. At one point, there were four death masks. One was made for Isaac’s mother Selena/Celina. It was damaged by Hurricane Frederick in 1979. The markers were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
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