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Churches and lodges

St. Paul AME Church

St. Paul AME Church is Chapel Hill's first all-Black congregation, which began meeting under a grape arbor in December 1864 and joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1870. Its present church on Merritt Mill Road, built in 1892 across the road from its first building near the old Quaker school, still stands.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

People in its history

People named in events about this site, ordered by number of mentions. Each example links to an entry with a source citation.

Sites linked through the same people

Indexed works

Books, articles, records, and images about St. Paul AME Church. Each has been reviewed for relevance; materials held at OCPL appear first.

About the site

St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1864-2014 : abiding in the vine for 150 years.

2014 · St. Paul AME Church

One hundred and fifty years of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chapel Hill, published by the congregation in 2014 to cover 1864 through 2014. The founding date reaches back to the end of slavery in North Carolina. 141 pages with photographs, facsimiles and portraits, advertisements included in the pagination.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

UNC

St. Paul AME Church & the Chapel of the Cross.

1998 · Chapel of the Cross?

Two videodiscs, running about 222 minutes in all, recording a 1998 program that brought together St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill. The program, Faith on Franklin Street, marked anniversaries of both congregations and concerned African American churches and church buildings in Chapel Hill.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

UNC

St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chapel Hill, photographed from outside with a group of men in overcoats posed in front. Undated. Part of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

CH Historical Society

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about St. Paul AME Church alone: the architectural surveys that cover its town or the county, and maps drawn while it stood. Several of the surveys can be read free online at NC Digital Collections.

Churches in Orange County, North Carolina, South of Interstate 85 from 1756 to 2000

Johnson, George Arthur · 2000

George Arthur Johnson surveys the churches of southern Orange County, the part of the county south of Interstate 85 that takes in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, from 1756 to 2000. The volume also includes his talk to the Chapel Hill Historical Society on March 4, 1996, on the university, the churches and the Jews of Chapel Hill. Published by the society in 2000, 144 pages plus lettered pages A to F.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC CH Historical Society

The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, North Carolina: 1795-1975

Little-Stokes, Margaret Ruth · 2006

Margaret Ruth Little-Stokes's survey of Chapel Hill's town and campus buildings from 1795 to 1975, published by the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill in 2006. Chapters run from the first campus buildings through David Swain's romantic campus to midcentury modernism, followed by area surveys of the campus, east and west Chapel Hill, downtown, Northside and the suburbs.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal UNC Duke NC State Durham Chapel Hill PL Library of Congress CH Historical Society

The town and gown architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975

Little, M. Ruth · 2004 · Preservation Society of Chapel Hill

M. Ruth Little's 2004 architectural history of Chapel Hill and the university campus from 1795 to 1975, written for the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill. A 99-page survey with a bibliography.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Chapel Hill historic sites survey : final report.

Gatza, M. B. · 1992 · Chapel Hill Planning Department

M. B. Gatza's final report of the 1992 Chapel Hill historic sites survey for the town Planning Department, with contributions by Beverly C. Kawalec and Catherine Bishir. It covers historic buildings and districts in Chapel Hill in 80 pages.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Chapel Hill township survey final report

Lally, Kelly A. · 1992

Kelly A. Lally's October 1992 final report on the architectural survey of Chapel Hill township, including Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Besides the report and a bibliography, most of its 56 pages form an annotated index of the historic buildings surveyed.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

When Chapel Hill was a village

Love, Cornelia Spencer, 1892-1981 · 1976 · Chapel Hill Historical Society

Cornelia Spencer Love's recollections of Chapel Hill as a village, published by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 1976 with drawings by John V. Allcott. Love lived from 1892 to 1981, and the book covers Chapel Hill biography, the town's social life and customs, and the faculty of the university before 1962. viii and 87 pages with illustrations.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC Library of Congress CH Historical Society NC Cardinal
Show 6 more surveys and maps

Map of Chapel Hill as it was in 1875 to 1885

Carter, H. D. (Henry Dennis), -1941 · 1934

Henry Dennis Carter's reconstruction, drawn as a blueprint in 1934, of Chapel Hill as it stood between 1875 and 1885, showing the buildings of the village. A note on the map says the information came from old residents who gave it to Mary L. Thornton.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

[Map of Chapel Hill and vicinity].

Harris, Hunter Lee, 1866-1893 · 1888 · Hunter Lee Harris?

Dating from 1888 and attributed to Hunter Lee Harris, a map of Chapel Hill and its vicinity, reproduced as a photocopy measuring 22 by 37 centimeters. Harris died in 1893, which brackets the drawing to the late nineteenth century. An early depiction of the streets of the village and the land around it.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

[Map of Chapel Hill].

1895

Pen-and-ink manuscript map of Chapel Hill dated 1852, with a table of measurements, showing the University campus, the village around it, street widths and layout, and the town limits. Later notes attributed to Kemp P. Battle give the longitude and latitude of landmarks as measured from atop New East Hall in 1880.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC DPLA

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina.

1925

Sanborn Map Company fire insurance map of Chapel Hill, June 1925, on eleven sheets, with Carrboro also drawn. Sanborn maps recorded the outline, construction and use of each building for fire insurers, so the set shows both towns block by block in the mid 1920s.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

Library of Congress Digital Collections

Map of Chapel Hill & vicinity.

1933

Street and property map of Chapel Hill and the surrounding country, revised to 1 January 1933 and printed in the town. Topics include streets, real property and the historical geography of Chapel Hill along with maps of the University of North Carolina in its 1793 to 1962 period. A useful sheet for tracing lot lines and street names as they stood at the start of the 1930s.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

Map of African-American Neighborhoods in 1944, Chapel Hill

1944

An appendix map from 1944 marking Chapel Hill's African American neighborhoods: Potters Field, Sunset, Tintop, Knolls and South West Lane. A proposed park north of town, possibly Umstead Park, is also shown.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

DigitalNC DPLA

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

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    Where to look on the shelf

    These books don’t necessarily mention St. Paul AME Church, but they cover where it stands, its kind of building and the land, family and burial records behind it, and they are where a search for a place like this usually goes next. All are at OCPL, most in the Wall Collection.

    Histories of the town and county

    • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 STO Chapel Hill: A Pictorial History Stolpen, Steven · 1978

      Steven Stolpen's pictorial history of Chapel Hill, one of the Donning Company's photographic town histories, published in Norfolk, Virginia in 1978. Photographs and portraits carry the story of the town and the university, including references to Thomas Wolfe's years as a student at Carolina. 156 pages with illustrations.

    • Foundational · 975.656 RYAN Orange County Trio: Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro, North Carolina, Histories and Tour Guides Ryan, Elizabeth Shreve · 2004

      Elizabeth Shreve Ryan's combined histories and tour guides for Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the three towns of Orange County, with the University of North Carolina treated alongside Chapel Hill. Each town gets a narrative history and a tour of its streets and buildings. Published by Chapel Hill Press in 2004, 369 pages with illustrations and maps.

    Buildings and surveys

    • Foundational · NC 720.975 BIS A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina Bishir, Catherine W. · 2003

      Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern's field guide to the historic buildings of the North Carolina Piedmont, arranged county by county from Wake and Franklin in the east to Mecklenburg and Gaston in the west. The Orange County section takes in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro along with the rural county, with entries on individual buildings and maps for finding them. Published 2003, 596 pages with illustrations and maps.

    • Foundational · NC 917.56 HIS Historic Buildings and Landmarks of Chapel Hill, N.C Chapel Hill Historical Society · 1973

      A pocket-sized guide to the historic buildings and landmarks of Chapel Hill, prepared by the Chapel Hill Historical Society and printed by Creative Printers in 1973. Forty pages with illustrations and maps, 14 by 22 cm. Topics include architecture, historic buildings and historic districts in Chapel Hill, and the guide is useful for a walking tour of the older parts of town.

    Land, family and burial records

    • Foundational · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY Chapel Hill, N.C. History of Town Lots (1790-1930s) Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2014

      Deed transcripts for the town lots of Chapel Hill and adjoining land from 1790 to the 1930s, compiled by Stewart E. Dunaway. Each transcript keeps only the working facts: grantor and grantee, price, acreage and the metes and bounds of the parcel. Self-published in 2014 as Issue 1G, 702 pages with maps and facsimiles.

    In the chronology

    1. Black and Native American worshippers in Chapel Hill gather under a grape arbor and form the congregation that became St. Paul AME A group that included William Thompson, Charles Craig, Jerry Hargraves, Kenny Brooks, Green Merritt and Green Cordal began meeting under a grape vine arbor, with Rev. Green Cordal preaching the first service. The congregation was received into the African Methodist Episcopal connection in 1870. People: Green Cordal From the Rock Wall: St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church
    2. Freedpeople build a church and school at Chapel Hill's West End After emancipation, Black families kept homes and small farms on Chapel Hill's west end. St. Paul's congregation, first gathered under an arbor in December 1864, built a log church on Merritt Mill Road and bought land in 1878, and in 1866 Benjamin Craig and Green Cordal bought an acre nearby for a freedmen's school. People: Green Cordal, Benjamin Craig Chapel Hill Historical Society, From the Rock Wall: St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church
    3. Benjamin Craig and Green Cordal secure land for a Black school In 1866 Benjamin Craig and Green Cordal bought a plot of land near what is now the corner of West Franklin Street and Merritt Mill Road and gave part of it to the Philadelphia Quakers for a school for freedpeople and the rest for the church that became St. Paul AME. In the spring of 1867 the Friends reported that the freedmen were putting up a school and house of worship on a fifty-dollar lot. People: Green Cordal, Benjamin Craig, George Dixon Town of Carrboro: Historic Downtown Walking Tour, stop 14 · Also: Internet Archive: Fourth Annual Report of the Friends' Association of Philadelphia for the Relief of Colored Freedmen; NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975; Open Orange: Quaker Freedmen's School
    4. St. Paul joins the African Methodist Episcopal Church Six years after it began meeting under a grape arbor in 1864, the Chapel Hill Black Methodist congregation now known as St. Paul AME received word in 1870 that it had been accepted into the African Methodist Episcopal Church, headquartered in Philadelphia. St. Paul AME Church, Chapel Hill: Church History
    5. St. Paul AME buys a church lot from Benjamin and Dilsy Craig The congregation paid fifty-five dollars on April 15, 1878 for a church lot bought from Benjamin and Dilsy Craig, and was raising money in December 1879 and January 1880 to finish a church there. In 1892 it built its present church across Merritt Mill Road from the earlier one, on land the 1983 Carrboro inventory says the Hargraves and Caldwell families gave about 1890. People: Benjamin Craig, Dilsey Craig St. Paul AME Chapel Hill: History · Also: The Chapel Hill Ledger, December 6, 1879, p. 3; Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro Inventory
    6. Chapel Hill's AME congregation issues a public appeal for money to finish its house of worship Rev. G. W. Offley, preacher in charge of the African Methodist Episcopal church in Chapel Hill, signed a circular dated January 5, 1880 asking the public to help the congregation complete its house of worship and naming Brother George Trice to solicit subscriptions. The Chapel Hill Ledger printed it in full on January 10, 1880. People: George Trice The Chapel Hill Ledger, January 10, 1880, p. 3
    7. St. Paul AME congregation builds its present church on Merritt Mill Road St. Paul AME, the first all-Black congregation in Chapel Hill, put up the church that still stands, across Merritt Mill Road from the site of its first building near the old Quaker school. Town and Gown dates it to 1892; in October 1893 the Chapel Hill News reported that the town's Black Methodists had about finished their new church, at a cost of about $1,000. NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 37 · Also: The Chapel Hill News, October 19, 1893, p. 4
    8. St. Paul's A.M.E. Church widens its sanctuary by one bay A growing congregation led to the widening of the 1892 frame church. Brick veneer went on in the 1950s, but the belfry and steeple kept their original look. Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 48
    9. The AME Durham District holds its Sunday School Convention at St. Paul AME in Chapel Hill Sunday school workers of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Durham District met at St. Paul AME Church, where committees reported on subjects running from church finance to the condition of the public schools and young women of the district read papers. Patten took the meeting as a sign that the AME church led Sunday school work among the county's Black churches. Walter Patten, Negro Churches and Sunday Schools, Orange County, North Carolina (1916), scan p. 29
    10. St. Paul's A.M.E. builds a bungalow parsonage beside the church The congregation put up a one-story bungalow next to the sanctuary as its parsonage. Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 48
    11. St. Paul's A.M.E. adds an annex with a meeting hall and kitchen The annex was built at the northwest corner of the church. Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 48
    12. Reviewers keep St. Paul's A.M.E. Church off the Study List over its brick veneer Staff told the State Professional Review Committee that St. Paul's was an important institution with long ties to its community, but that major alterations, among them a brick veneer, had cost it integrity. On July 13, 1989 the committee approved the day's other public requests and left the church off, and Robert Stipe asked staff to present standards for judging setting and integrity at the next meeting. NC State Historic Preservation Office: National Register Advisory Committee agendas, minutes and approved lists, p. 389
    Show all 15 dated events
    1. The Chapel of the Cross and St. Paul AME become sister parishes The Episcopal parish and the Black AME congregation in Chapel Hill formally linked their churches. A Celebration of 250 Years of Anglican and Episcopal Witness in Orange County (2003), scan p. 13
    2. Frances Hargraves dies at her Caldwell Street home Frances Neal Hargraves, a retired Chapel Hill-Carrboro teacher and community volunteer, died at her home on Caldwell Street. Her funeral at St. Paul AME Church, where she had taught Sunday school for 53 years, filled the church and its annex, and the church planned a memorial garden in her name. The Daily Tar Heel: Residents Gather to Praise Life of Chapel Hill Legend (April 22, 2002)
    3. St. Paul AME Church bought land on Rogers Road for a new church campus The Chapel Hill congregation bought more than 22 acres for a worship complex with a banquet hall, wellness center, daycare, senior and affordable housing, athletic fields and a cemetery. The land, at Rogers Road and Purefoy Drive, became the site of the planned St. Paul Village. St. Paul AME Church Chapel Hill: History

    Open these in the chronology →

    Research sources

    Sources cited in this site’s history, National Register documents, and places to get research help. Research guide: Investigate a school or community institution.

    Background 5

    Historic sites, markers, and maps

    Records of the time 8

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    Collections and databases 5

    Local help 7

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