St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Carpenter Gothic church in Prairieville, Alabama.
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church is a Carpenter Gothic church located in Prairieville with vertical board siding and pointed-arch windows throughout its facade. The steeply pitched gabled roof and buttress-like projections at the perimeter define its distinctive appearance.
The congregation was founded in 1834, and this was its first church. Enslaved laborers of church members built it in 1853 under the direction of enslaved master carpenters from Henry Augustine Tayloe's Gallion plantation; the design appears to come from Richard Upjohn's book Rural Architecture. It was formally consecrated in 1858 and drew free and enslaved parishioners from surrounding counties. The congregation declined after the Civil War reduced the population.
The congregation was founded in 1834, and this was its first church; after the 1858 consecration it drew parishioners, free and enslaved, from surrounding counties. The name Freetown comes from the community the enslaved carpenters of Henry Augustine Tayloe's Gallion plantation later formed.
St. Andrew's stands on the south side of County Highway 12 in Prairieville, on a three-acre lot (1.2 ha) with room to walk the grounds. Public access to the building is allowed. The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama maintains it and occasional services are still held; restoration work was undertaken in 2023.
Master carpenters from Henry Augustine Tayloe's plantation directed construction and incorporated hand-wrought iron strap hinges and tobacco-stained wood surfaces in the interior. These handcrafted details remain visible evidence of 19th-century construction techniques.
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