Bethel AME Church - Pine Street's Anchor

A stop on Harriet Tubman, a free self-guided tour.

This brick Gothic Revival church on Pine Street dates from 1903, but the congregation behind it is far older, rooted in the free and enslaved Black community of Tubman's Cambridge. Ministers who tried to organize an African Methodist society here in 1830 met resistance. The congregation persisted anyway, met in wooden buildings, rebuilt after an 1877 fire, and finally raised this church with its two unmatched towers.

No record says Tubman worshipped here, and this tour will not claim it. Bethel belongs in her story because of the community it stands for: Black families, churches and workers whose faith, news and quiet courage made freedom networks possible in a town that tried to control all three.

For most of its history Pine Street was Cambridge's Black main street, the counterpart to segregated Race Street a few blocks over. In the early 1960s Bethel served as a headquarters of the Cambridge movement led by Gloria Richardson, whose demands for jobs, housing and equal service made national news in 1963. Admire it from the sidewalk; it is an active church.

Getting here: Drive about a mile south from Long Wharf through downtown to 623 Pine Street.

Did you know?: The Cambridge movement drew U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy into negotiations in July 1963, which produced an agreement often called the Treaty of Cambridge.

Photo op: Step across Pine Street to fit both towers and the front steps in one frame.

Nearby: No public facilities here; return downtown for food and restrooms, and fill your tank before heading into the countryside.

More on Wikipedia: Gloria Richardson · Cambridge riots of 1963 · African Methodist Episcopal Church

Bethel AME Church - Pine Street's Anchor

Stops on this tour