St. Philip's Moravian Church

St. Philip's Moravian Church
Location: E side, S. Church St. near Race St., Old Salem, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Area: less than one acre
Built: 1861
Architect: Houser,Charles; Swink,George
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Governing body: Private
NRHP Reference#: 91001170[1]
Added to NRHP: September 03, 1991

St. Philip's Moravian Church is a historic African American Moravian church building on the east side of S. Church Street near Race Street, Old Salem in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The building was constructed in 1861.

History

The site was the original location of an 18th century graveyard, and in 1823 the African American congregation constructed a log building on the grounds following a congregational vote to segregate worship in accordance with North Carolina state law in 1816. Prior to that the African-Americans who joined the Moravian church attended Home Church. In 1861, the present St. Philip's Church building was constructed in a Greek Revival style. Now restored, the church was originally built by the Salem congregation for the enslaved and free African-Americans of the community. It is the oldest surviving African-American church built for that purpose in North Carolina. Completed just before the Civil War in 1861, the Emancipation Proclamation was read there to the congregation in 1865 by the chaplain of the 10th Ohio Regiment. The Church continued to grow and was expanded in the 1890s. The congregation moved to a new location in 1952 (and still exists at a third location), and the building stood vacant until its restoration. The church building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, and the building was fully restored in the late 1990s, and its predecessor, a log church raised in 1823, was reconstructed nearby.

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