AFRICAN CHURCH

Inscription

AFRICAN CHURCH
FIRST AFRICAN METHODIST
EPISCOPAL CH. IN COUNTY EST.
HERE 1846 ON LAND PURCHASED
FOR $100 BY BLACK BRICKWORKERS.
RELOCATED AFTER 1906 LANDSLIDE.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2020

In 2016 the owner of the property at 39 Clinton Street was building a new home in Haverstraw when an unusual brick with a cross carved into it was uncovered. Some initial research discovered that this brick was part of the cornerstone of the first African church built in Rockland County. In 1846 a group of freed slaves paid one hundred dollars for a plot of land where they built the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The church became a place of worship for many black people who lived in Rockland County. Some parishioners were freed slaves and some came to work in the brick yards not far from the site of the church. While the congregation’s church affiliation changed over the years, they continued to worship on this site until 1906, when a landslide occurred in the nearby brickyards. A new church edifice was built and still stands on West Street not far from the original site.