Local Historical Marker: Shorter's Chapel
Photo credit: Jean E. Flynn
Location: 10228 Bayside Rd, Machipongo, VA 23405 (Bridgetown)
Inscription: A.M.E. Church worship began circa 1866 by Rev John Offer in the Freedmen's Bureau Bridgetown School. Church additions were 1883-1886. Northampton County Tourism Fund
Shorter’s Chapel A.M.E. Church was built on the foundation of Bridgetown Elementary School, one of the first African American schools established by the Freedman’s Bureau after the Civil War in 1867. The school gifted the building and land to Shorter’s Chapel in 1896.
Shorter’s Chapel was organized in 1870 by Reverend John H. Offer, the first black Methodist minister on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. It was named for the African Methodist Episcopal Bishop James A. Shorter. It took almost a century before African Americans could legally have the right to practice religious freedom and even longer to have the right to an education and then, even longer after that, an equal education.
Shorter's Chapel in Bridgetown. "The church that sits on the hill with doors that swing on friendly hinges." Photo credit: Jean E Flynn
Bridgetown Elementary School was one of the first schools established by the Freedmen’s Bureau in Northampton County after the Civil War. In 1867, Bridgetown School trustees James Jacob, Peter Palmer, William Stratton, Ephram Stevens, and James Harmon purchased an acre of land from James Toy. Shorter’s Chapel was one of the churches organized by Reverend John H. Offer circa 1870 during his tenure as the first African American Methodist minister on the Shore. It was named for the A.M.E. Bishop James A. Shorter.
Shorter’s Chapel building was originally occupied by Bridgetown School. A cornerstone records the year 1883 as the year the church was constructed, but it seems likely that the Shorter’s Chapel congregation predates the cornerstone and that the cornerstone actually records the building of the first addition to the church. Over the years, the church added onto the original building, increasing the size of the church over the original foundation. In 1896, the Bridgetown School trustees executed a deed of gift and gave Shorter’s Chapel the school and a lot 20 x 30 feet.
In 1896, Bridgetown School trustees exchanged land with Laban Belote for land on the north side of Bayside Road. Although a deed of gift from the trustees of the Bridgetown Elementary School transferred the ownership of the Shorter’s Chapel property in 1896, the cornerstone of the church dated 1883, together with the oral history of the church, confirms that the transfer of property was but a legal formality. The Bridgetown School had moved before 1883, and Shorter’s Chapel occupied this space thirteen years before the deed was executed.
Visit the Landmarks Trail and Northampton250 pages for more about John Offer, A.M.E. churches and Shorter's Chapel.