Historic Black wv Church Recognized on America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places List

Tams, WVa. – West Virginians are celebrating the addition of the historically-significant New Salem Baptist Church to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2024 – an annual program that raises awareness about the threats facing some of the nation’s greatest treasures. The New Salem Baptist Church in Tams (Raleigh County) serves as a physical reminder of the important contributions of Black coal miners to the coal industry in the United States and is one of the last remnants of the coal company town of Tams, as well as one of few remaining buildings tied specifically to the history of Black coal miners in West Virginia. It is only the second site in West Virginia to be added to the prestigious 11 Most Endangered List, now in its 37th year, which has recognized over 350 other sites since 1988. 

The New Salem Baptist Church is part of the culturally-diverse Tams mining camp constructed beginning in 1909 to house Gulf Smokeless Coal Company workers. Coal companies often intentionally recruited a diverse workforce to minimize labor organizing, including European immigrants, local farmers, and Black Americans moving north in search of employment, and Tams was no different.  At the height of coal mining efforts in the 1920s, Tams had a population of around 1,250, and during a time of segregation, the Gothic Revival Church was constructed in 1921 after the Black Baptist congregation under the pastorate of Rev. Burton Linwood Ziegler asked coal company owner, William Purviance Tams to build a church for them. Typically coal companies controlled the land and all buildings in the coal camp, so the congregation had to rely upon the coal company owner to the build them a church.  Membership at the church peaked at 350 members and has dwindled since the coal mines closed in the 1960s and the last residents left Tams in the 1980s. 

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, by 1920, over 26% of all mine workers in central Appalachia were Black, however, their story is underrepresented in national historic preservation efforts. Sherrie Hunter, the Director of Marketing & Education for Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority and whose father was the milkman for Tams, teamed up with the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia, the statewide nonprofit dedicated to historic preservation, to change that by nominating the property to the 11 Most Endangered List after their success in having the Church nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.

2014 photo including volunteers: Joe Carter, vice president United Mines Workers District 17, Jerry Massie, United Mine Workers field representative. Kim Blankenship, Lowe’s, Sherrie Hunter, project coordinator, Donald Cook, pastor, Shawn Mains, Lowe’s, Michael Giles, Lowe’s, Harley Cox Bonds, Phyllis Rose, Tom Cox and Mitch Barley. Photo: The Register-Herald

Sherrie, also a Councilwoman for the City of Beckley, began working to preserve the church in 2011 after meeting its former Pastor of over 25 years, Reverend Donald Cook, who passed away in 2022 and also worked at the Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority. The church began falling into disrepair and Sherrie started working closely with Rev. Cook and Queenie Schoolfield, the oldest member of the congregation, to fundraise for repairs. To date, they have raised $16,200 from local supporters to replace the roof and repair the soffit and fascia, $5,000 from the Raleigh County Commission and $5,000 from the National Coal Heritage Area. Funds are still needed to make critical repairs to the windows and doors. Donations are currently being accepted through a GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/new-salem-baptist-church-tams-wv. 

Although the Church has stood for over 100 years and community support for its preservation is very strong, the building needs more upkeep and repairs than the small congregation can currently handle. More funding and partnerships are needed to fully preserve the church and ensure it can remain part of community life for years to come, as recognized by Carol Quillen, the President & CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation who said about the Church’s addition to the 11 Most Endangered List,

“Preservation is at its heart about community, and that is abundantly clear for the New Salem Baptist Church. This small but mighty congregation and their committed local allies have worked tirelessly to uphold the church’s unique West Virginia legacy. We hope that this designation will help attract resources and new partnerships to support preservation of the church and a broader awareness of the stories it tells about the often-overlooked Black history in Appalachia coal mining.”