The St. James AME Zion Church Community Excavations

Our fourth and FINAL SEASON of community excavations at St. James AME Zion Church in Ithaca NY has concluded. We wrapped up fieldwork on November 16, 2024. Artifact processing, cataloguing, and analysis is still ongoing. 

Beginning in 2021, CIAMS faculty in collaboration with Gerard Aching (Cornell Africana) and Reverend Terrance King (St. James AME Zion Church) launched a new community engaged initiative to explore the history of the St. James community. The St. James AME Zion church building was constructed during the late 1830s and is today the oldest AME Zion church in the world still in active use. The building is known to have been the most important Underground Railroad station in Ithaca during the 1840s and 1850s. Harriett Tubman is known to have spent time at the Church and Frederick Douglass also visited.  

We conducted excavations over the course of four fall field seasons, from 2021-2024. In each season, our excavation team included community members and Cornell students and faculty. Our goal has been to use archaeology as a means to help the Church and wider community tell empowering stories of St. James's past. We hope to inspire all participants to learn more about their community and its rich history.

We encourage you to take the CyArk tour of the church and watch a video about the church made by Historic Ithaca.

 

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