{"nrhp_refnum":"97000571","name":"St. Peter's AME Zion Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"615 Queen St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Bern","county":"Craven County","state":"NC","lat":35.11056603000003,"lon":-77.04339216799997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-06-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Religion","Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Gothic Revival church and an adjoining Craftsman-style frame parsonage at 615 and 617 Queen Street in New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina. The church was rebuilt from 1923 to 1942 after a 1922 fire; the parsonage dates to about 1926.","why_significant":"The congregation is described as the oldest existing African Methodist Episcopal Zion congregation in the South, known as the \"Mother Church of Zion Methodism in the South.\" It produced national leaders such as Joseph C. Price and Sarah Dudley Pettey. The present sanctuary is argued to be architecturally significant and represents the congregation's long effort to rebuild after the 1922 Great Fire.","narrative":"St. Peter's A.M.E. Zion Church and its parsonage occupy a half-acre lot on Queen Street in New Bern, opposite Cedar Grove Cemetery. The congregation traces its origins to Andrew Chapel, which joined the A.M.E. Zion denomination in 1864 after missionary James Walker Hood arrived in the occupied city. It later took the name St. Peter's and built churches in 1879 and 1914. The Great Fire of December 1922 destroyed the church and parsonage, and members spent nineteen years rebuilding, worshipping in the basement from 1923. The present brick Gothic Revival sanctuary, completed in 1942, has a gabled nave, buttressed walls, pointed-arch windows and twin truncated stair towers. A Craftsman-style parsonage of about 1926 is linked to it by a basement fellowship hall. The complex is recognized for its architecture and for its role in religion and Black ethnic heritage, including leaders such as Joseph C. Price and Sarah Dudley Pettey.","period_of_significance":"1942-1947","architect_builder":"Sparrow, Henry Clay, Builder","architectural_style":"Gothic; Bungalow/Craftsman (Gothic Revival church, Craftsman parsonage)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Church and parsonage remain in religious use; the parsonage continues in use and the church has had few renovations.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.478335-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/37/7175/47717537/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/97000571.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000571/8363f261c4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000571/8363f261c4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tradewinds","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Peter%27s_AME_Zion_Church.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Tradewinds</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Peter%27s_AME_Zion_Church.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"03000965","name":"New Bern Historic District (Boundary Increase) (Additional Documentation)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/new-bern-historic-district-boundary-increase-additional-documentation-03000965/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717537","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_AME_Zion_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7591297"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/craven-county/st-peters-ame-zion-church-97000571/"}