Town Designates Historic Black Church in Northport

Huntington Town and Northport Village officials gathered Tuesday to commemorate the designation of Allen AME Church in Northport as a Town historic site.

The church will join the John Coltrane house, the Booker T. Washington House, Bethel AME, and Evergreen Baptist, among others, as a landmark of local African American heritage.

“This is to officially commemorate a very significant historical and religious landmark in the town of Huntington," said Town Councilman Mark Cuthbertson. 

Northport Mayor George Doll seconded Cuthbertson in his address to the audience: “Northport is steeped in history," Doll said. "With this designation, this historical property will be preserved for future generations."

Allen AME Church was founded in 1908 after followers of Bishop Richard Allen obtained a $500 loan to construct the facility. The congregation lasted until 1965 when it dissolved and the property was sold and converted into a residence. 

Terrence and Barbara McNalley purchased the converted church from its third owner in 1994 and began restoring the structure to its original semblance, installing an antique church door imported from Italy, and refinishing the original wooden floors on the first level and the orginal wainscoting on the upper floor. 

"Ever since the [historic designation] sign came people walk by, they stop, they chat with us, they pull over off the road," said Barbara McNalley. "I met a parishioner a few years ago and he said, 'I can’t picture it as a house,' and I said, 'I can’t picture it as a church!'"

Thelma Jackson was the primary force behind the church's historic designation today. Jackson, a resident of East Northport, began researching the history of Northport's African American population and unearthed accounts of a thriving black community at the turn of the century. She published a book on her findings in 2000, with a picture of Allen AME Church on its cover.

“I found it very interesting that Northport not only had a black community but also had a black church," she said. “The most exciting part to me about this property is that the original cornerstone is still attached to the church.”

In 2005, Jackson became one of the founding members of the Town of Huntington African American Historic Designation Council and helped to put the Booker T. Washington House on the town's registry of historic places. She has since moved on from the council to pursue other work, but has remainded a guiding hand in Allen AME's designation since it was recommended by the council in 2007. 

"This is actually my second baby," she said of the church's designation, "I’m very proud to see it come to fruition.”

The Town of Huntington designation will further incoprorate the Church into the community's educational and cultural fabric, said Town Historian Robert Hughes, but it does not afford protections against future modification or demolition of the property. The best protection against that, he said, would be landmark designation by the Village of Northport.