Forsyth County Historical Association
Forsyth County, North Carolina
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The St. Philips complex includes three major components: the restored 1861 St. Philips Moravian Church with
an 1890 addition, the 1823 reconstructed log church, and the 18th-19th century graveyard. The site is used
primarily to interpret the African-American experience in Salem from the 18th century through the civil rights
era.  

The site was first used historically as a burial ground for non-Moravians starting in 1772. African-Americans
began to be buried here in the 1790s if they were not Moravians, while Moravian members were buried in
God’s Acre. Beginning in 1816, all African-Americans, whether Moravian or not, were buried in the
graveyard. The graveyard was used until 1859 when a new African-American graveyard was established
closer to the main Moravian burial ground. A memorial listing all the burials and brief information is on the
front of the building, and generic markers have been placed to identify known locations of adult or children’s
graves.

The 1823 log church is a reconstructed building using the white oak timbers, the original material identified in
the Moravian records. It measures 40 by 28 feet. The interior is used as a modern interpretive space to
introduce the history of the site.

The National Register listed St. Philips as the oldest surviving African-American church in North Carolina. It
was built in 1861 on the edge of the burial ground. It is a large masonry Greek Revival structure. A Union
Army chaplain read the Emancipation Proclamation to the African-Americans from the pulpit when the troop
passed through Salem at the end of the Civil War. When the church was expanded in 1890 to add needed
space and classrooms, it was built over part of the graveyard. The building was restored to the configuration
with the steeple and the 1920s appearance. The congregation, which still exists, moved out of the building in
1952 when it relocated to the Happy Hill neighborhood.

This is one of the most significant African-American sites in the State representing almost 15 years of
research and study in the restoration and interpretation of this complex and important site. The prominence
of the brick church on the ridge gives the site a well-deserved visibility after years of being hidden by
overgrown vegetation. As a new exhibit in Old Salem, this site presents a significant step toward the
broadening of interpreting historic African-American sites in North Carolina and a landmark on the landscape
of Winston-Salem.


Article from:
http://www.cityofws.org/Home/Departments/Planning/BoardsAndCommissions/Articles/CAC2005Winners
ST. PHILIPS CHURCH HISTORY
OLD SALEM, NC
Parish Graveyard Interments
Following is the text of the tablets along the St Phillips Church's front foundation, which list the inscriptions
found on gravestones that had been stacked in the church's basement during renovations. The exact locations
of most graves are unknown.

African American Graveyard

1817 James "A Black Man"
1818 Ruben "South Carolina"
1818 Harry "Man in Hire"
1819 Abner "Married Man"
1819 Frank "Worked at the Paper Mill"
1823 Lewis "Son of Fanny and John Holbrook"
1823 "Stillborn Son of Samuel and Elisabeth"
1824 Lewis "Lived an Exemplary Life"
1825 Andrew "Son of Anne Bodney and Harry"
1825 "Infant Son of Samuel and Betsey"
1825 Owen "Young Man"
1826 Mary Davis "Free"
1826 Christian Samuel "Jesus, Will I Never Leave"
1826 Richard "Passed Away in Faith"
1826 Enoch "Young Son of Rosa"
1826 Joseph Davis "Free Worker"
1826 Temperance "Infant"
1827 Martha "By Grace Ye are Saved"
1827 Sarah
1827 Penelope "A Difficult and Oppressed Life"
1827 John Calvin "Infant Son of Lazarus and Anna Samuel"
1827 Patsey "Joyful in Confident in Jesus"
1827 Charles "Father of Charles Augustus"
1828 Enoch "Infant"
1828 Matthew "Youth"
1828 Thomas "Old Man"
1828 "Infant Son of Ida"
1828 "Stillborn Son of Daniel Bodney and Anne"
1828 Phyllis "Attended Church and School Faithfully"
1829 Bodney "Passed Away Peacefully"
1829 Asa "Died on Administration Plantation"
1829 "Stillborn Son of John and Mary Christine"
1829 Nancy "Born in Africa"
1829 "Daughter of Daniel Bodney and Anne"
1830 Fanny "Wife of John Holbrook"
1830 Mary Emanuel "Daughter of John Emanuel and Christina Oliver"
1830 "Daughter of Daniel Bodney and Anne"
1831 Lucy "Trusted in the Savior's Mercy"
1831 Aaron Josiah "Suffer Little Children"
1831 Jonas Samuel "Child"
1831 Henry Jackson "Son of Charles and Lucy"
1831 Fanny "Daughter of Rose Lucy Ann"
1831 Lucy Ann Sarah "Wife of John Emanuel"
1831 Mary Ann "Mother of William Albertine"
1833 "Stillborn Daughter of Samuel and Betsey"
1833 Peter Rose "Faithful Scholar"
1833 Lucas "Encouraged by David"
1833 Shepherd "Seeks for the Good with Tears"
1833 "Child"
1834 Fanny "90 Years of Age"
1834 Jeremiah Scott "Little Boy Free"
1835 John Emanuel "Church Sexton and Sainted Brother"
1836 John Samuel "Witness to the Savior"
1838 "Stillborn Son of Adam and Fanny"
1838 Timothy "Born in Africa"
1838 John "They Shall be Comforted"
1839 Christian David "Church Sexton"
1839 Pleasant "Served the Cherokee Mission"
1840 Mary Catherine "Lamb of the Shepherd"
1841 Calvin Lowain "Pricilla's Son"
1841 "Infant Son of Lewis Bodney and Mary"
1842 "Infant"
1844 Julia "Daughter of Nancy"
1844 Lewis "Listened in Silence"
1844 Squire "Baptist"
1844 Sally "Let us Stand Together"
1845 Esquire "Married Man"
1845 "Child"
1846 Henry Augustus Stokes "Son of Henry Obijah Augustus and Fanny"
1846 Fanny "Factory Worker"
1846 "Child"
1846 George "Factory Worker"
1847 Thomas Jacob Benjamin "Son of Adam and Fanny"
1848 Anna "Precious Blessing"
1849 Herculus "Partaker of Grace"
1849 Melinda Catherina "Daughter of Lewis Bodney and Mary"
1849 Wesley "A Lad"
1850 Thomas "Aged Widower"
1852 Charles Augustus "Son of Charles and Fanny"
1852 Charles Wilson "Son of Matilda and Alexander Gates"
1853 Maria Elizabeth "Daughter of Lewis Bodney and Mary"
1853 Judy "Daughter of Fanny and Timothy"
1853 Jim Reich "Large Number at his Funeral"
1854 "Child"
1854 Jacob "Aged Man"
1855 Louis "Young Man"
1855 Rose Lucy Ann "Faithful Member"
1856 Elizabeth "Young Child"
1856 John Henry "Son of Matilda and Alexander Gates"
1856 Matilda Vogler "Sponsored a Child in Baptism"
1856 Jenny West
1856 Tom "Aged Man"
1857 Lucy Ann Rosaline "Infant Daughter of Amy and Alfred"
1857 Polly Maria "Wife of William"
1857 Emma Elsina "Daughter of Lewis Bodney and Mary"
1857 "Child of Lewis Bodney and Mary"
1857 John "They Need no Candle"
1857 Betty
1857 Delilah "Aged Woman"
1857 David
1858 Delilah "An Excellent Character"
1858 "Infant"
1858 Maria Louisa "The Son of Man Cometh"
1859 Louis Scott "Infant"
1859 Wellington "Aged about 50 Years"
1859 Joseph Israel "Son of Fanny and Adam"
1859 "Child of Daniel"
1859  Charity

Stranger's Graveyard

1775 Michael Jordan "Guilford County"
1779 George Steel "Holston River"
1780 ____ Berger "Soldier"
1780 William Brown "Soldier"
1781 N Dodwine "Soldier"
1790 William Camp "Negro Child"
1791 Schott "Lived Nearby"
1795 Peter Ford "Yorkshire"
1797 John Hutchinson "Virginia"
1797 George "Died at Folz's"
1799 "Child of Free Sam'l"
1804 George "Treated by Docr Vierling's"
1806 Betty "Slave of Gov Alex Martin"
1806 Newborn Child "Buried by the Sexton"
1808 Sally Gordon "Treated by Doctor Vierling"
1808 Susanna Atwins "Randolph County"
1808 Sarah Laird "Buncomb County"
1810 Jesse Hays "Wilkes County"
1810 Jacob Kennedy "Died of a Tomahawk Wound"
1812 Andrew Schawitz "Saxony"
1813 Robert Alexr Johnston "Hatter"
1815 Sarah "Abraham's Wife"
1815 Rebecca Hill "Died in Childbirth"
St. Philips Parish Graveyard Interments