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Early RepublicReconstruction & Gilded Age

Andrew's Chapel

New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina

Marker Inscription

Andrew's Chapel. Est. 1802 to serve all local Methodists. After 1864 mother church for the A.M.E. Zion faith, it became St. Peter's, 1879. Stood 1/10 mi. S.

Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources

The Story

Established in 1802 to serve all local Methodists, Andrew's Chapel became a spiritual crossroads in New Bern. After 1864 it served as a mother church for the A.M.E. Zion faith, and in 1879 it was reorganized as St. Peter's. Its story traces the emergence of independent Black congregations in the wake of emancipation.

Why it matters

The chapel's evolution captures how African Americans built their own churches after the Civil War, institutions that became pillars of community and freedom.

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