STROUDSBURG, MONROE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A historic church in Stroudsburg is opening its doors once again. Volunteers have been renovating the Stroudsburg Little Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church for nearly two decades.
Photojournalist L Baccera gives us a look inside.
"This church was established in 1855. There were two Quakers and a Methodist, who gave land. It started off as a log cabin, which was across the street and eventually, they brought that over onto this side of the street," Vice President of the Stroudsburg Little Bethel Historical Association Clavertis Miller explained.
"A lot of the male members fought for the North in the Civil War," Miller continued.
"After their service, those who came back started to build this stone structure that you see now. In 1868, when the troops built it, up until 1972, is when it was in use. It was vacant from 1972 to the 1980s, and at that point, that's when the gentleman, Mr. Hillman and Mr. Washington, came in and started to rehab the building itself," Miller added.
Why is Black History Month the shortest of the year?"The association was established in 2002 and in 2003, Judge O'Brian gave them ownership of the building. So from that point on, many years of renovation started to take place. Once it became a part of the association, it sort of moved out of being called a church, more of a move into a museum and a lending library. We've had books donated by some members of the community, Kay Lopez, all the books that you see in the cabinets around the floor here," Miller said.
"A lot has been going on in the last couple of years when establishing to get that to this point that you see now. We've gotten grants from the Rotary to help us in doing certain things here. The Hughes family gave a tremendous amount to establish a restroom in the building here. Now, we are looking for other opportunities to bring things into the building, as far as events. Authors who would like to do book signings, and things of that nature, we are more than happy to accommodate you. We do do a Juneteenth Fish Fry every year in the community so that helps getting money for funds to continue to do the great things that we like to do here," Miller explained.
The group always needs volunteers and donations.