Alexandria’s Shiloh Baptist Church is among more than 30 historically Black churches to receive a new grant aimed at preserving and restoring their buildings.
The church at 1401 Jamieson Avenue has received $360,000 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund as part of its Preserving Black Churches grant program. Recipients were announced last week.
The Rev. Dr. Taft Quincey Heatley, senior pastor at Shiloh Baptist Church, told ALXnow the grant will help address structural issues in the church’s 19th century historic sanctuary.
“This building is a landmark of the Old Town Alexandria community and the grant will help us ensure its standing and legacy,” Heatley said.
Shiloh Baptist Church was founded in March 1863 by 50 formerly enslaved African Americans on the site of a contraband camp for enslaved people escaping during the Civil War. The location is near the former grounds of one of the nation’s large slave trading companies — the history of which is documented at the Freedom House Museum across the street from the church. In 2023, the church constructed a history wall for its 160th anniversary.
“In a time of Civil War in America, Shiloh served as a place of refuge for both the Christian Community and the African American Community,” Heatley said. “The institution is a symbol of liberation, resilience, progress and faithfulness of a people and worship community who rest in the grace of Jesus Christ through faith.”
The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund has provided $13.5 million in grants to 38 churches in 2026. Brent Leggs, the action fund’s executive director, said landmarks like Shiloh Baptist Church are often overlooked in the nation’s history.
“As our country approaches its 250th anniversary, preserving places like this is not optional, it is essential to telling the full American story,” Leggs said. “Through the Preserving Black Churches initiative, the Action Fund is proud to support the stewardship of Shiloh Baptist Church so it can continue serving as both a historic landmark and living institution, ensuring future generations understand the power of this sacred place.”
The action fund provided the grants at the end of the 100th annual Black History Month, which the church commemorates with an African American History Moment presentation by youth on the fourth Sunday of February.
But Heatley says the church observes it throughout the year, “since Black History is American History.”
The church’s other annual events include a Juneteenth Celebration to commemorate the end of slavery and a memorial for Benjamin Thomas, a member of Shiloh Baptist Church who, at age 16, was lynched by a white mob in 1899 in Alexandria.
