Location: NC 343 South at Shiloh
County: Camden
Original Date Cast: 2016
The oldest Baptist church in North Carolina, Shiloh was settled prior to 1729 in what was then Pasquotank County when the congregation petitioned the precinct court to be permitted to worship at the church of their choice. After North Carolina became a royal colony that year, citizens could petition the government to be permitted to worship in a church other than the Church of England. The congregation, originally called Burges’ Meeting House, met at the home of William Burges, the pastor. The petition of the members of the Burges congregation, dated September 5, 1729, is the earliest documentary evidence that the church was already active and organizing.
Credited with organizing the church is Paul Palmer. Originally from Maryland, Palmer had preached in New Jersey and Maryland before settling in North Carolina in 1720. In or about 1727 he established his first congregation in Chowan County. Often identified as branches or successive organizations of the same church in early histories, the Chowan and Pasquotank churches are now regarded by Baptist historians to be separate congregations founded by the same pastor. Palmer and others associated with him founded several other congregations throughout the eastern part of the colony in the following years. Although the presence of Baptists in the area which became North Carolina is documented as far back as the seventeenth century, the early congregations in Chowan and Pasquotank mark the beginning of major Baptist activity in the colony, at a time when there were not many churches of any sort.
In 1736 the congregation built a small house of worship on grounds owned by the Burges (later Burgess) family. The congregation originally adhered to the General Baptist creed, which held that Christ died for the atonement of all. In 1758 the congregation reorganized as a Particular (Reformed) Baptist church, which accepted the more traditional Calvinist doctrine of salvation for the elect. A new meeting house was built afterwards on Portahonk Creek, about three miles from the site of the original structure. In 1777, the portion of Pasquotank in which the church was situated split off to form Camden County, and the church was called Camden Meeting House. It became Shiloh Church in 1812 after a second Baptist congregation organized in Camden County at Sawyer’s Creek.
The current meeting house is across the road from the Portahonk Creek building. It was constructed in 1848-1849. Additions and renovations were made over the succeeding years. In 1878, a steeple was added to the structure. New windows were installed in 1913, and an extension was added to the back by 1924. A new entry and vestibule were made to the front of the building in 1947. Renovations in 1949 included installations of an electric organ, a baptistery, and the construction of a choir loft. In 1966 the building was bricked.
References:
“Minutes of the General Court of North Carolina, July 28, 1720, November 1-3, 1720, October 26-30, 1725,” in William L. Saunders, ed., Colonial Records of North Carolina, II (1886)
License of Rev. Paul Palmer to Preach, October 4, 1738, North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register, II: 1 (January 1901)
Samuel A’Court Ashe, History of North Carolina, I (1908)
“Shiloh Baptist Church: A Brief History,” Camden County Government website, http://www.camdencountync.gov/about/history/shiloh-township/shiloh-bapt…
J. A. Easley, “Palmer, Paul,” in Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists, II (1971);
Walter M. Gilmore, “The Shiloh Baptist Church (NC) 1727-1927,” Biblical Recorder, September 21, 1927, on-line edition from Baptist History Homepage, http://baptisthistoryhomepage.com/nc.shiloh.200.yrs.annvrsy.html
H. Leon McBeth, The Baptist Heritage (1987)
G. W. Paschal, “Early Baptists in Eastern North Carolina,” Biblical Recorder, November 21, 1934, on-line edition from Baptist History Homepage, http://baptisthistoryhomepage.com/nc.eastern.bapt.paschal.html
G. W. Paschal, “Shiloh Church,” in Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists, II (1971)
Jesse Forbes Pugh, Three Hundred Years Along the Pasquotank: A Biographical History of Camden County (1958)