Sandwich First Baptist Church

This is the oldest active black church in Canada. A group of former slaves, led by Henry Brown, John Hubbs & Willis Jackson, began an informal church group in the 1820s. In 1840 eleven fugitive slaves from the ‘Close Communion of Baptists’ organization formed the congregation. They worshipped outdoors or in the homes of individual members until a log cabin was constructed in 1847. Fugitive slaves worked to construct the new church with hand hewn lumber and bricks.