Living Legacies Issue 1 Volume 1(clone) | Page 9

One of the earliest Methodist

churches in the community, the

Methodist Church on Liberty

Street was constructed in 1854.

Reverend C.F. Deems recalls his

sermon of dedication reaching

an “overflowing population.”

Towards the end of the War, the church was occupied by the Ohio Cavalry, but welcomed them for service as it would anyone. Just a year

past its twenty-year anniver-

sary, the church plans continued

growth in its congregation and welcomes new members

and those looking for a place of peace amidst the bustle of the growing towns.

The African Moravian Church

has deep roots in Salem,

though its founding

is a difficult story to tell. In

1816, it was decided that the

enslaved Moravian

congregation needed

to be segregated from the

white congregation, and the

enslaved Moravians built

their own log church in

1823. By 1861, the church

expanded to a larger, brick building.

On May 21, 1865, a Union army chaplain stood in the church and read General Orders No. 32, which would enforce President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, effectively ending slavery in North Carolina. A decade later, the congregation continues to flourish and is excited for the

possibilities ahead.

Opposite page: Home Moravian Church; Top Right: Methodist Church on Liberty Street; Above: View of African Moravian Church (Courtesy of Old Salem Museums and Gardens).