Markers of History

Path of History
Court Street Baptist Church

Location: Court St, between Queen St and London St, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 1, 2009, 2:00pm

Transcription of marker:

Established in 1789, the Portsmouth and Norfolk Baptist Church served as the first Baptist con­gre­ga­tion in South Hampton Roads. The name was changed in 1791 to Portsmouth Baptist Church and again in 1855 to its cur­rent name, Court Street Baptist Church. This Romanesque Revival-style church is the third build­ing to occupy the site and con­tains the cor­ner­stone of the pre­vi­ous building.

Black mem­bers of Court Street Baptist Church wor­shiped in the base­ment until May 1865 when 318 of the con­gre­ga­tion founded their own church, Zion Baptist. This church became the sec­ond African-American Baptist Church estab­lished in Portsmouth. Located on Green Street, it is still in use today.

My impres­sions: The build­ing is quite unique-looking and I was inspired to look at it even before I saw the Path of History marker. One thing that seems strange to me, given the times and places I’ve grown up, is to think about the for­mal­ized racial seg­re­ga­tion that existed for so long in so many places, and in churches, of all places. I don’t really have much to say, but as I re-copied that marker today, it did come to mind.

Markeroni sta­tus: Will be sub­mit­ted once I have gath­ered infor­ma­tion about the Path of History.