St. Mary African Methodist Episcopal Church

Front inscription

Tradition holds that St. Mary African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church was organized in the 1890s by Rev. Caesar Wilson and first worshipped on the north side of Gapway Road, now U.S. Hwy. 521. They acquired this site in 1909 where they rebuilt their original wood frame church.

Reverse inscription

St. Mary eventually joined the A.M.E. Church’s Gapway Circuit and shared pastors with several other local congregations. Members also founded St. Lawrence School, a public school for African Americans that stood next to the church. Though veneered with concrete block and later with brick, the original church still stands.