The Meeting House on Nassau Street Is Dedicated but Unfinished. The Bell Is on Scotland Street.

"We are still here, and we are not going anywhere."

The Rev. Reginald Davis of The Historic First Baptist Church said that on Friday morning, standing at the reconstructed African Baptist Meeting House on South Nassau Street. WYDaily reported that hundreds of people came. The building behind him looks done in the photos. It isn't. That same WYDaily story says Colonial Williamsburg staff now expect the church to be ready by Grand Illumination in December, after a completion date originally projected for this month. A photo caption in the story says mid-December.

So if you live in Williamsburg and want to see what was dedicated this week, the next two months need a little planning. The congregation's story is split between two addresses less than a mile apart. One is a reconstruction still being finished. The other is the working church on Scotland Street, which has a Heritage Center you can tour and a bell you may be able to ring.

What was dedicated on Friday

The dedication was the Friday event of FBC250, a four-day anniversary weekend running October 8 through 11. The church's 250th anniversary page laid out the schedule:

1. Thursday, Oct. 8, 6 to 7 p.m. Commemorative Spirituals Celebration at First Baptist Church, 727 Scotland Street.
2. Friday, Oct. 9, morning. Unveiling and dedication at the Nassau Street site, closing with Let Freedom Ring, featuring guest musician Pierre Whitlow, lead vocalist Ronzell Pretlow and the Celebration Choir.
3. Saturday, Oct. 10, 5 p.m. The Let Freedom Ring Foundation Annual Gala at the Williamsburg Lodge, where the Foundation is presenting its first Freedom's Bell Award to Brent Leggs, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
4. Sunday, Oct. 11, 11 a.m. The 250th Anniversary Worship Service at 727 Scotland Street, with a message from the Rev. Dr. Reginald F. Davis.

Speakers on Friday included state Sen. Mamie Locke. The Nassau Street Remembrance Choir and local gospel singer Mildred Taylor Walker also performed. The church said guests would go into the Meeting House and burial ground after the ceremony, then on to tour the current church and its updated Heritage Center on Scotland Street. Friday's route from Nassau Street to Scotland Street is also the best way to visit between now and December.

There was also a handoff during the ceremony. James Ingram, who has played Gowan Pamphlet for Colonial Williamsburg for 26 years, passed the role to Brandon Lee, who made his debut that morning, according to the Associated Press. Pamphlet was an enslaved tavern worker and the congregation's pastor when its first meeting house went up. "You couldn't believe how many years I've sat right over there at that door of that meeting house and dreaming that this thing would happen," Ingram told WYDaily.

What's at 205 S. Nassau Street right now

Colonial Williamsburg lists the African Baptist Meeting House and Burial Ground as a self-guided site at 205 S. Nassau Street, labeled "Open to the Public." AP describes the building as 16 by 32 feet, framed in pine and white oak, with the original half-round brick steps reproduced. It has shutters, handblown glass that Jennifer Wilkoski, Colonial Williamsburg's director of architectural preservation and research, calls "restoration glass," a refreshed altar table, and HVAC. Colonial Williamsburg had looked at glassless windows last year but changed course to make cooling possible.

AP also reports that the remaining finishing work, including an ADA-accessible ramp, will be done over the next few months. I couldn't find posted interior hours for the period before completion. Colonial Williamsburg's general policy requires an admission ticket to go inside Historic Area buildings or attend programs. If you want to go inside before December, check with Colonial Williamsburg first rather than assuming the door will be open.

The burial ground is the part of the site that's already finished. Colonial Williamsburg says it worked with descendants to place stone markers there in October 2024. The excavation that began in March 2020, carried out by Colonial Williamsburg and the Let Freedom Ring Foundation, turned up more than 78,000 artifacts and 62 burial shafts. AP reports that DNA and bone analysis of three sets of remains tied them to the Meeting House congregation. Oral tradition about ancestors buried in the area was the first lead. "We knew the building was here, and we knew that there were maybe burials behind it," Wilkoski told AP.

Why the story moved less than a mile

The Nassau Street building is new. The congregation isn't. AP reports that First Baptist was founded in 1776 by enslaved and free African Americans who met in defiance of laws barring them from gathering. A tornado destroyed the church in 1834. It was rebuilt in 1856, and a century later the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation turned the site into a parking lot because the building didn't match the town's 18th-century look. Colonial Williamsburg's own site page says that after it bought and removed the church, the congregation moved to Scotland Street, where it has worshipped since 1956.

Sources give different dates for the first meeting house. AP says the congregation built it in 1805. A historian quoted by the Daily Press gives 1810, and the paper captions the original building as dating to around 1818. Colonial Williamsburg says the first documentary reference is from 1818. The 1776 founding date isn't in dispute.

Today Pastor Davis leads a 215-member congregation in the 20th-century church on Scotland Street, which AP places less than a mile from the original site.

The finished half of the visit is at 727 Scotland Street

Through December, Scotland Street is where you can see the most. A VA250 event listing describes the church's Heritage Center as holding a recreated 1856 pulpit, original furniture and artifacts. It also places the Freedom Bell in the vestibule and says visitors may ring it. WHRO reported in March that the church's existing collection includes items from the Nassau Street site.

The bell has a history of its own. The Smithsonian dates the church's acquisition of it to 1886. The Daily Press reports that President Barack Obama rang it at the 2016 opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The church lists tour hours of Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., by appointment. Walk-ups are welcome as capacity allows. I didn't find a set schedule for ringing the bell, so ask when you book.

When the Nassau Street building should be finished

The completion target is tied to Grand Illumination, which Colonial Williamsburg's holiday planner lists for three Saturdays this year: December 5, 12 and 19. WYDaily's "mid-December" caption puts the likely finish somewhere in that window, not on a fixed day. If you're planning a holiday visit with family, a stop at the finished Meeting House on one of those Saturdays is reasonable to pencil in. Confirm it's open before you promise anyone.

A few practical details if you want to visit before then:

• Guided context. Colonial Williamsburg runs a walking tour called Nassau Street, Past, Present, and Future that covers the area's archaeology, including the Meeting House site. It meets on Nassau Street outside the Taliaferro-Cole Stable and requires CW admission. The page didn't show specific fall dates when I checked.
• Admission for locals. The Good Neighbor Pass costs $35 for adults and $10 for youth and is good for a year. It's open to listed Williamsburg, James City County and York County ZIP codes, with proof of residence required when you redeem it.
• Order of stops. Do it the way Friday's guests did. Start at Nassau Street, then go to Scotland Street, where the tour, the artifacts and the bell are all ready now.

If you've got family coming for the holidays and want help planning a Historic Area day around a Grand Illumination Saturday, or you just want to talk about life on these streets, Angie Archibald is happy to help. I'll tell you which Nassau Street stops are worth the walk.