Contractor discovers 134-year-old note inside historic AME church in NJ

A construction job inside a historic African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church at the Jersey Shore led to a discovery 134 years in the making.

In August 2024, Kyle Carter, a contractor, was working on scaffolding in the rafters inside the Allen AME Church in Cape May, New Jersey. The historic church and city-owned building was being transformed into the Clemans Theater at Allen AME Church, which will become the first permanent home in the 45-year history of the East Lynne Theater Company, an equity professional theater based in Cape May.

As Carter continued working, he discovered a handwritten note written on aged parchment that was nailed to a beam inside the church. The letter says the following:

“To all whom this may concern, Elwood Rowland, formerly of Media, PA Daniel Galvin, [formerly of] Phila Plastered this church during The month of June for $250 Rev. Dr. Newton, Pastor [unclear]”

“I instantly thought, like, you know, what are we doing to preserve it?” Carter said.

The note was dated back to June 19, 1891, a date that we now celebrate as Juneteenth, a federal holiday commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States.

“This is extremely and extraordinarily significant,” Bernadette Matthews, a member of the East Lynne Theater Company, said. “Juneteenth. How about that?”

Researchers determined the writer of the letter was Rev. Dr. Alexander Herritage Newton, who served as pastor at the Allen AME Church from 1889 until 1892. Newton – a prominent and revered religious leader known for his advocacy for social justice and education and his support of the Underground Railroad -- was also a sergeant in the 29^th Connecticut Volunteers, a Union Army regiment in the United States Colored Troops during the American Civil War.

“We learned more about the pastor who was here at the time, which we didn’t, hadn’t known about before,” Matthews said.

Newton’s autobiography, “Out of the Briars: An Autobiography and Sketch of the Twenty-Ninth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers,” briefly mentions his time in Cape May. He also wrote in the book that his church was in need of plastering work.

“The church building was not plastered or seated, so we decided to borrow money for this purpose,” Newton wrote in his autobiography.

Newton’s note somehow survived a fire that significantly damaged the church in 2018.  

“The firefighters deserve a lot of credit for this,” Hope Gaines, a member of the Center for Community Arts History Committee, told NBC10.

As recently as 2021, the church was considered one of New Jersey’s 10 Most Endangered Historic Places, according to Preservation New Jersey. Amid the church’s transformation into their permanent home, members of the East Lynne Theater Company see the note’s discovery as an important sign.

“This really was an affirmation that we were on the right track,” Mark David Boberick, co-board president of the company, told NBC10.  

The note remains in the rafters inside the church and is under new sheet rock. Officials say they’re working to find the best way to display and preserve it.

“I think it should stay with the building,” Carter told NBC10.

The Clemens Theater at Allen AME Church is set to officially open this spring on 717 Franklin Street in Cape May, New Jersey. The East Lynne Theater Company continues to raise money for renovations. Once the new space opens, the company will be able to have year-round programming, including plays, jazz, and art exhibits.

It will be the latest part of Cape May’s new Cultural District, which includes the Harriet Tubman Museum and a new 16,000-square-foot library which used to house the Franklin Street School, an elementary school for Cape May’s African American children.