Apalachicola Black History Trail

First Born Church of the Living God

During the year of 1914/1915, a group of Elders and Missionaries came to this city preaching and teaching holiness. As membership began to grow, the first place of worship was the Seventh Star Lodge on 10th Street and Avenue I. The second place was the Open Top Hall between 7th and 8th Street and Avenue K. Read more about the people and places of Apalachicola's early black history  here. 

Friendship Missionary Baptist Church

Though the year 1906 is recognized as the official founding of the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, events occurred two years prior that set in motion the beginnings of the second Missionary Baptist church in Apalachicola. Read more about the people and places of Apalachicola's early black history  here. 

Holy Family School and Church

Sister Sacred Heart, Mother Superior in New Orleans, selected the name for the Apalachicola parish as Holy Family. She appointed Sister M. Sebastian, Superior of the nuns in Apalachicola. Sister Sebastian, Sister M. Josephine, and Sister M. Barbara arrived in Apalachicola on February 5, 1920. The nuns first used a 1907 fourteen-room, two story home (Minnie Barefield Mansion) located on the property as the original convent-school. The Holy Family building that exists on the site today was constructed in 1928. Read more about the people and places of Apalachicola's early black history  here. 

Magnolia Cemetery

In 1913, the City of Apalachicola Florida adopted an ordinance regarding burials in Magnolia Cemetery, located in the north of town. Section 123 of the ordinance read as follows: "The north half of the south quarter of Magnolia Cemetery shall be used as a burial ground for white paupers, and the south half of the south quarter of said cemetery is and shall be used as a burial ground for colored paupers. The west quarter of said cemetery shall be used as a burial ground for colored people who desire to buy lots therein, and all that portion of said cemetery on the river side of Central Avenue is and shall be used as a burial ground for white people." Read more about the people and places of Apalachicola's early black history  here. 

Minnie Barefield's Mansion

The Minnie Barefield mansion was located at this location in Apalachicola. The house was built in 1907 by lumberman Charles Dobson for his mistress, Minnie Barefield, an African descended woman of mixed-race, who owned a brothel in town. The mansion was purchased in 1920 by Bishop Patrick Allen of Mobile to be used as a convent for Sisters of The Holy Family from New Orleans. For a time, some of the rooms of the mansion were used by the nuns as classrooms until The Holy Family School building opened in 1928. In 1974, Father Hugh Dolan sold the mansion to Ruth and Eldon Schoelles and they moved the building to an Eleven Mile tract of land located off of State Road 30A between Port St. Joe and Apalachicola. Read more about the people and places of Apalachicola's early black history  here. 

Black Business District on the Hill

There were few paved roads on The Hill in its early days. One of those paved roads was Avenue J (now MLK Avenue) which ran through the commercial heart of Black Apalachicola. In its heyday, The Hill community had many business establishments and was a pulsating, vibrant community where residents purchased groceries, seafood, and home cooked prepared meals. There were places for dancing, drinking, eating and socializing. Read more about the people and places of Apalachicola's early black history  here. 

Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church

Historical records of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church indicate that the ministry originated in a Little Red Church at Block 30, Lot 7 of the City of Apalachicola, Florida. A second building was erected in 1889 on the site of the first church but it faced 8th Street. In 1917, under the leadership of Rev. A. F. Martin, George H. Marshall, a prominent local Euro American builder, completed the current masonry structure that is the church today. Read more about the people and places of Apalachicola's early black history  here. 

Odd Fellows Lodge

The Odd Fellows Hall in Apalachicola at 143 Sixth Street was built between 1881 and 1883 as a meeting hall for the local Black fraternal Order. During the construction of the John Gorrie Bridge in the 1930 the hall hosted regular dances. When Dunbar School for Black students burned down on February 11, 1943, the Odd Fellow Hall was school for a portion of the students until a new school was built. The Odd Fellow Hall was used by teachers and students from Dunbar until April 1945 when Wallace M. Quinn High School opened. Read more about the people and places of Apalachicola's early black history  here. 

Paul Laurence Dunbar School

At the end of the Civil War, Emanuel Smith, a formerly enslaved man, wrote to the American Missionary Association for help in establishing a school in Apalachicola for people of African descent. Read more about the people and places of Apalachicola's early black history  here. 

St Paul AME Church

St. Paul AME Church was established in 1866, and the small Church served as a school for Black children. Read more about the people and places of Apalachicola's early black history  here. 

Wallace M Quinn High School

The Wallace M. Quinn High School, grades 1 to 12, was the premier educational institution for Franklin County's Black communities during the years of federal policy that permitted state governments to enforce the separation of Black children into underfunded public schools. Read more about the people and places of Apalachicola's early black history  here.