Allen’s Temple AME Church
Site Brief:
Founded: 1895
Location: Asheboro, NC
Additional name(s): None
Affiliate group(s): None
History:
According to land records the land was originally purchased on 5 November 1895 by the trustees of Allen Temple AME Church. According to the corner stone, the wooden church structure was Dedicated 27 September 1947. The church property was sold 9 April 1970. The cemetery was not included in this sale and as far as I can tell is still owned by the AME Church. There are many unmarked graves, and I am sure there are some we don’t know about and except for one or two upright stones, this cemetery appears to be an abandoned lot.
When they built the 220 bypass in the 1960’s, it split the local neighborhood. That meant that if you didn’t have a car, it was very hard to get to the church. That along with some threats to fire bomb the church, during the civil rights movement, meant that fewer and fewer people attended. It seems that the church was not closed so much as just slowly died. Genealogies, land records, newspaper articles and maps can be found in the Randolph Room in the Randolph County North Carolina Library.
