Finding Sanctuary: Visit area churches for glimpses into history
Walk through the doors of the area’s historic churches and get an education into architecture, the Civil War, Civil Rights, religion and more.
Morgan County
First United Methodist
805 Canal St. N.E., Decatur
Founded in 1827 by 67 white and Black members, First United Methodist Church in Decatur was originally named the Methodist Episcopal Church and sat on the corner of Railroad and Church streets. During the Civil War, the church served as a hospital for Confederate troops and an encampment for Union troops.
In 1854, Black members began meeting separately and formed what would become King’s Memorial United Methodist Church, 702 McCartney St. N.W., which housed Decatur’s first permanent public school for Black children in 1867.
First Missionary Baptist
233 Vine St. N.W., Decatur
Organized by the Rev. Alfred Peters of Moulton and 21 former slaves in 1866, First Missionary Baptist is one of the oldest churches founded by Blacks in Decatur. Over the years, First Missionary served as a haven of safety, a community center, an outpost, a voting registration site and a Civil Rights hub.
The church is one of three churches in Decatur connected to Wallace A. Rayfield. The second licensed Black architect in the United States, Rayfield is best known for designing the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. He also designed Decatur’s Wayman Chapel, 412 Church St. N.W., and the former worship center at King’s Memorial.
Stephenson Chapel
Corner of Oak and Lafayette streets Northwest, Decatur
First Baptist Church in Decatur completed a two-year project to restore the 116-year-old Stephenson Chapel in 2023. Rueben H. Hunt designed the chapel, which was built in 1908, after First Baptist’s original 1839 chapel was burned during the Civil War. First Baptist member Patrick Rasco oversaw the project, which included securing the bell tower, replacing 170 missing ceiling tiles, restoring the organ’s pipes and adding stained glass windows, new pews, a custom-created stencil and custom gold fretwork.
“This place is so loved and revered by the congregation, to help to make sure it’s going to be here for another 100 years is gratifying,” Rasco said.
St. John’s Episcopal
202 Gordon St. S.E., Decatur
Established in 1880 by settlers of New Decatur, the current church, which sits between Gordon and Jackson streets in Southeast Decatur, was built in 1893 for less than $2,000 and features gothic architecture. Originally facing north, the building was physically turned to face west in 1948.
Vintage Faith
411 Sherman St. S.E., Decatur
Built in the 1880s, the building, which now houses Vintage Faith, originally served as the gathering place for the Congressional Church, until 1901, and then Evangelisch Lutherischen St. Paulus Gemeinde Zu New Decatur, or St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, until 1968.
In 1951, the structure was lifted and turned 90 degrees west in order to add a basement, according to Ron Fritze, a member of St. Paul’s and a former history professor. St. Paul’s, Decatur’s only Lutheran church, is located on Carridale Street Southwest. Vintage Faith began meeting at the Sherman Street site in 2015.
Hartselle Tabernacle
35 Tabernacle Road S.W., Hartselle
In the late 19th century, homesteaders cut and peeled the cedar posts, which still hold up the Hartselle Tabernacle. For the past 125 years, thousands of worshippers made the trek, some by car, by foot, by wagon and by horse, to the Tabernacle for the annual Hartselle Camp Meeting.
Lawrence County
Pine Torch Church
Nestled in the Bankhead National Forest, the Pine Torch Church was built in 1850 from hand-hewn poplar logs. The original floor was made of poplar planks and the roof of oak shingles, which were later replaced with tin.
The building served as a church and the community’s school. The church, at Lawrence County 70 and 73, is one of Alabama’s four log churches still standing.
Courtland Presbyterian Church
Formed in 1821, Courtland Presbyterian Church is the second-oldest Presbyterian church in north Alabama. After the first meeting house burned in the 1850s and destroyed all but two of the original stained-glass windows, the church rebuilt at its present site at 645 Hamilton St. in Courtland.
Old Town Creek Baptist Church
Considered the oldest Baptist church in Lawrence County, Old Town Creek Baptist, which sits on Lawrence County 460 and 101, catty-corner from the Town Creek cemetery, was established in May 1818, before Alabama became a state.
Limestone County
Cambridge United Methodist Church
14004 Cambridge Lane, Athens
Dating back to the early 1800s, Cambridge United Methodist Church hosted temperance rallies in the 1840s and served as a drilling ground for Confederate troops. During the Civil War, Union troops seized the damaged church. The building was restored in 1873. Friendship at Cambridge, an extension of Friendship Church, worships at the historic church.
First Presbyterian
112 South Jefferson St., Athens
Founded in 1829 as Cumberland Presbyterian Church, it is now known as Athens First Presbyterian. During the Civil War, Union soldiers used the church to stable horses and burned the pews as firewood. The new sanctuary on South Jefferson Street, where the congregation still worships, was completed in 1895.
Trinity Congregational United Church of Christ
722 Browns Ferry St., Athens
Built in 1871, Trinity Church in Athens and Trinity School were founded by Mary Frances Wells, who came to the South to tend to the wounded Union soldiers during the Civil War. For decades, the school served as the only place in Limestone County where Black teenagers could attend high school. Both the church and school were targets of attacks and set on fire in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Brick Church
Lauderdale Street in Mooresville
Built in 1839 on land donated by Gov. Thomas Bibb, the Brick Church served as a meeting place for the Cumberland Presbyterian and Methodist congregations in the early 1800s. In 1898, the Methodists bought the church, which also served as a Baptist mission, from the Cumberland Presbyterian congregation. The last worship services at the church took place in the 1960s.
One of the more interesting features of the church is the steeple, which is a large wooden hand pointing to heaven. The original steeple fell in the early 1990s and was replaced by a hand-carved replica in 2005.
Church of Christ
Market Street in Mooresville
Gen. James A. Garfield, who would later become president of the United States, preached at the Church of Christ in Mooresville in 1863 while encamped with the 42nd regiment of the Ohio Volunteers. The white clapboard church was originally built in 1854 as the Disciples of Christ meeting house.
Huntsville
Temple B’nai Sholom
103 Lincoln St. S.E., Huntsville
Founded in 1876 by 32 families, Temple B’nai Sholom was north Alabama’s first Jewish temple. Dedicated in 1899, the temple was designed by architect R.H. Hunt in the Romanesque Revival style. The temple is the oldest synagogue in the state in continuous use. The temple also is home to the Huntsville Jewish Heritage Center and a Holocaust Torah scroll. On permanent loan from the Memorial Scrolls Trust in London, the Torah came from a town in the Czech Republic during the Holocaust.
St. Bartley Primitive Baptist
3020 Belafonte Ave. N.W., Huntsville
Considered the oldest Black congregation in Alabama, St. Bartley Primitive Baptist, originally called African Huntsville Church, formed in 1808. The original congregation consisted of slaves in north Alabama. The services took place at night so members could worship freely. The church was rebuilt in 1872 after a fire destroyed the building during the Union’s occupation of north Alabama after the Civil War.
More churches:
For more interesting church sites, check out the Hallelujah Trail created by Alabama Mountain Lakes Association, the Amen Trail created by Decatur Morgan Tourism and the Grace Trail created by Athens-Limestone County Tourism.
