Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, December 25, 1994                   TAG: 9412270048
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-4   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: ELIZABETH OBENSHAIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

ST. PAUL: SMALL IN SIZE, BUT BIG PART OF MEMBERS' LIVES

This church, St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, has welcomed worshipers since 1857. The town's black community founded the church five years before Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

The simplicity and charm of the design make the church an architectural favorite of those who know the ins and outs of Blacksburg's back streets.

But its small size, tucked away on narrow Penn Street behind the fraternities and large brick houses lining Roanoke Street, make the church virtually invisible to those hurrying by.

To the congregation that worships there, the church has been an important part of their lives, their parents' and grandparents' lives - drawing longtime residents as well as newcomers back to a neighborhood that once was the heart of Blacksburg's small black community.

Members think the church has stood on the site since the late 1850s. Years later, in 1882, the congregation bought the building and its small plot of land from a church member, George Washington, and his wife, Ann. The price: $30, according to Jacqueline Eaves, a lifelong church member and the church's historian.

Even though the church was renovated in 1901 and again in 1948, when its weatherboard was covered with stucco, church members think it is the original structure dating from the 1800s.

The membership rolls from the early days of this century are a genealogical chart for church members today, who can point to the name of an aunt or grandfather or great uncle. The names have a familiar ring to longtime residents: Preston Mays; W.L. Young; Lillie and Creasy Reynolds; Franklin and Mamie Glenn; W.J. Sears, who owned the black barbership in downtown Blacksburg; Alonzo Freeman, who lived on the site of the present firehouse at Jackson and Progress streets

In the '60s, the church was highly visible in the community, its members active in school desegregation, civil rights and other community activities such as sponsoring Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, said Eaves.

In the past year and a half, the church has experienced renewed vigor under its new minister, the Rev. Dr. Edward Scott, who has attracted more Virginia Tech faculty and college students as well as retaining the core of local residents.

Today, the church's cream-colored stained-glass windows suffuse the interior with a golden light when the sun hits the windows on a Sunday morning.

The nave surprises with a feeling of space that belies the building's diminutive size. Mellow-toned wooden pews stretch from the center aisle to the wall to create more seating. Careful renovations over the years, including the last one in the late 1980s, have preserved a traditional design for the nave and altar area.

For Eaves and other church members, St. Paul is part of the fabric of their lives. "It is a family church," Eaves said. "... there is no better place to be than St. Paul on a Sunday morning. What we do there can always uplift your spirit and carry you through the week."