First African Baptist Church (Lexington, Kentucky)
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First African Baptist Church
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Front of the church's former building
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| Location | 264-272 E. Short St., Lexington, Kentucky |
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| Coordinates | 38°2′38.1″N 84°29′34.1″W / 38.043917°N 84.492806°WCoordinates: 38°2′38.1″N 84°29′34.1″W / 38.043917°N 84.492806°W |
| Area | 0.2 acres (0.081 ha) |
| Built | 1856 |
| Architectural style | Italianate, Collegiate Tudor |
| NRHP Reference # | 86000854 |
| Added to NRHP | April 24, 1986 |
First African Baptist Church is a historic church at 264-272 E. Short Street in Lexington, Kentucky. The congregation was founded c. 1790 by Peter Durrett and his wife, slaves who came to Kentucky with their master, Rev. Joseph Craig, in 1781 with "The Travelling Church" of Baptists from Spotsylvania, Virginia.
First African Baptist of Lexington is the oldest black Baptist church in Kentucky and the third oldest in the United States; it is the oldest black congregation west of the Allegheny Mountains. In 1850 under its second pastor, it had more than 1,800 members, the largest congregation of any in the state. The nineteenth-century Italianate church was constructed in 1856; by 1861 the congregation at this building numbered 2,223 members. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Today the first African Baptist congregation worships at a newer church at 635 Price Road.
Peter Durrett was born into slavery on the plantation of his white father and master, Captain Duerrett of Caroline County, Virginia. As a young man of 25, he converted to the Baptist faith and married an enslaved woman who lived on Rev. Joseph Craig's plantation. Peter probably accompanied frontier guide Capt. William Ellis to the Kentucky district in 1779 scouting the subsequent Travelling Church migration. After their return and upon learning that his wife's master intended to so migrate, Peter asked for help from Duerrett, who traded him to Craig so the couple could stay together.
Durrett and his wife migrated in 1781 with their master and others of the largely Baptist Travelling Church from Spotsylvania, Virginia, led by Joseph's older brother Rev. Lewis Craig. Because Durrett helped the military leader, Captain William Ellis, guide the several hundred migrants and their slaves on the arduous 600-mile journey through the Appalachian Mountains, he was known as Old Captain after the trip. By 1784 Old Captain and his wife were members of a Separatist Baptist church at Boone's Creek, where Joseph Craig was pastor.
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