Campbel Chapel A.M.E.

Front: Built in 1853, this was originally Bluffton Methodist Episcopal church. Organized by whites, the church’s 216 members in 1861 included 181 African Americans, who were likely enslaved to its white congregants. The church caught fire during the Civil War but survived. By 1874, local freed people began worshipping here as an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church eventually known as Campbell Chapel. Reverse: Campbell Chapel was part of a wave of Reconstruction-era AME churches organized to serve southern African Americans’ spiritual and educational needs. In 1875, it was one of two churches in the AME Bluffton Mission, which had 190 members. Since altered several times, the building was first purchased by nine founding trustees for $500. Campbell Chapel congregants worshipped here until 2004.