Mount Moriah Baptist Church And Cemetery
Also known as: VDHR No. 128-234
Why it's listed
Mount Moriah Baptist Church and Cemetery sit on a wooded hillside near the eastern limits of Roanoke, Virginia. The church, built about 1908, is a small one-story frame building with weatherboard siding, a raised fieldstone foundation, a front vestibule and a rear chancel bay. Inside, plastered walls, a cove ceiling and original handmade pews and pulpit survive. A 1950s fellowship hall and 1993 bathrooms were added with little loss of historic fabric. The adjoining half-acre cemetery holds more than one hundred burials, many unmarked, dating from the 1870s to the present. Church tradition traces the congregation to 1858, when enslaved people received permission to worship in a brush harbor, and the burial ground is reputed to have started as a slave cemetery. Trustees bought land for the church and graveyard from 1870 onward. The property is recognized for its role in local African-American heritage and as a rare surviving example of a simple rural frame church within the city.
Significance in brief: The property is described as one of the most intact historic African-American religious properties in the Roanoke area. It is tied to one of the region's earliest African-American congregations, which tradition dates to 1858, and the cemetery is reputedly an enlargement of an earlier slave burial ground. The church is also a well-preserved example of a simple, minimally ornamented rural frame church, a type now rare in Roanoke.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 94001092, listed September 8, 1994. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 3521 E. Orange Ave., Roanoke (Independent City) |
|---|---|
| County | Roanoke (city and county) |
| Listed | September 8, 1994 |
| Reference number | 94001092 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1870 - 1944 |
| Architect / builder | Unknown (the form says parishioners built the church without the aid of ministers) |
| Architectural style | No style |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Black, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Still in use as a church with a maintained cemetery; burials continue to the present. Bathrooms were added in 1993, and the exterior and interior are described as virtually unaltered. |
| Acreage | 1 |
| Coordinates | 37.30432, -79.89075 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
Religious properties are listed for their architectural or historical significance, not their religious use. Listing is honorary and does not restrict the congregation's use of the building. The federal rehabilitation credit is generally unavailable unless part of the building is income-producing; some state programmes and preservation grants do cover religious buildings. Federal funding or permits trigger Section 106 review.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 94001092.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q16895458
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.