Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church

This National Historic Landmark is the oldest piece of land continuously owned by blacks in the United States. Richard Allen, born in 1760, was a slave in Germantown who bought his freedom in 1782, eventually walking out of St. George's down the street to found the African Methodist Episcopal order. The order today numbers some 2.5 million in 6,200 congregations, and this handsome, varnished-wood-and-stained-glass 1890 building is their mother church. Allen's tomb and a small museum, featuring his Bible and hand-hewn pulpit, are downstairs; open by appointment only.

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