Archaeologists dig Colonial Williamsburg. They’re excavating a powder magazine, a homestead connected to Martha Washington, and one of the nation’s oldest black churches. At the church site, graves offer windows into the past.
Williamsburg was Virginia’s colonial capital from 1699-1780. Today, Colonial Williamsburg is a 301-acre living history museum. Workers there conduct research, preserve artifacts, and provide educational programming and historical re-enactments.
In the 1700s, few ethnic Africans living in Williamsburg were free. Still, historians say both free and enslaved black people formed Williamsburg’s First Baptist Church in 1776. In doing so, members defied laws against gatherings of black people.
A tornado destroyed the church’s first building in 1834. The second structure, built in 1856, stood for 100 years. After that, Colonial Williamsburg used the property as a parking lot. Today’s members of First Baptist worship not far from the original site.
The museum plans to recreate First Baptist’s meeting house on the land where it once stood, says Jack Gary. He is Colonial Williamsburg’s archaeology director.
In 2021, archaeologists uncovered the church’s original brick foundation. They found more than 60 burial plots. Each held the remains of an image-bearer of God who had passed from this life to the next. (Hebrews 9:27)
Researchers partnered with First Baptist’s black community. With congregants’ blessing, three sets of remains underwent testing.
Only one set provided enough DNA to indicate race. It belonged to a black man between the ages 16 and 18. He stood five feet, four inches tall. His teeth showed signs of malnutrition or disease consistent with the health of an enslaved person of the time. The grave contained a button made from animal bone and appeared to be marked by an upside-down bottle.
Experts believe someone relocated the coffin at some point. They say many nails—probably reinforcements—and jumbled bones indicate a move.
The other remains belonged to men 35 to 45 years old. One stood five feet, eight inches. With his remains was a copper straight pin probably used for binding clothes or a funeral shroud.
The other man stood five feet, seven inches. He was buried in a vest and trousers. His leg bones showed repeated use of certain muscles. That suggests the heavy labor of an enslaved person.
Historians believe the remains prove these men were part of the original First Baptist congregation.
“This is what we were praying that we would hear,” says First Baptist member Connie Matthews Harshaw. “To know for certain that these are our people, and that this was our congregation is such a powerful step forward.”
Descendant Carlon Lassiter refers to Ezekiel 37: “One says, ‘Do these bones live?’ Well, they do live,” he declares. “And this helps connect the dots.”
Why? The study of archaeology offers insight into where, when, and how people lived. It also reveals details about the lives of those people—reminding us that they were living souls and not just artifacts of the past.
