Twin Beach AME Church
S side of CR 44, Fairhope, ALIn 1867, a number of blacks living in the vicinity of Battles Wharf formed a congregation known as Zion Chapel. The town of Fairhope did not yet exist.- Most whites on the Eastern Shore lived along the bay at Battles and Point Clear. After the Civil War the black population of freed slaves was complemented by others who chose to move into the area and farm. The small .congregation held worship services in a brush arbor until a frame building was constructed several years later. Fire and storm claimed this and subsequent structures until a more enduring building was provided. In 1925 the present church was constructed by Axal Johnson, a black craftsman. The church members, who numbered over two hundred, chose to build with concrete blocks molded to resemble stone. This material was popular in Fairhope from c. 1905 to c. 1935 in residences, businesses and churches. The Twin Beach A.M.E. Church has remained outside Fairhope's city limits, though in close proximity. The communities of Houstonville and Tatumville, once small villages with individual identities, have merged with the city or are dependent on it. Twin Beach A.M.E. Church retains a congregation of "some 150 persons.
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.