History of First Baptist Church of Williamsburg [Video]

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — The year was 1776 and a group of courageous slaves and free Blacks searched for a place to worship God in their own way.

Led by Rev. Moses, a free Black itinerant preacher, they found a small clearing in the woods to gather. In 1781, the group – under the leadership of Reverend Gowan Pamphlet – organized as Baptist and moved into a local carriage house.

This congregation would mark the founding of one of the nation’s first Black churches, what would eventually be known as the First Baptist Church of Williamsburg.

The congregation continued to grow and in 1856 dedicated a new brick church near the carriage house on Nassau Street where they would remain for the next 100 years.