Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church

Saint Mark’s sanctuary faces uncertain future.

After Jackson Chapel and Saint John A.M.E.Z., the building in which Saint Mark’s Episcopal worships is the third oldest continuously occupied  African-American sanctuary in Wilson. However, recent structural stresses have imperiled its future. 

Around 1925, Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist erected a church on Reid Street just south of East Nash. Ten years later, Mount Sinai had vacated the building. Looking for a location away from the downtown tobacco warehouse district and closer to its congregants, the Episcopal diocese purchased the church to house Saint Mark’s. With a few repairs, and the installation of its old circular stained glass cross, the church was ready for its new occupants in January 1936.

I took a few photos on a recent visit to Saint Mark’s, but they don’t adequately capture its simple beauty. Though its liturgical articles and ornaments have largely been removed, its altar, pews, and simple stained glass windows tell a century-old story.

The spine of Saint Mark’s building is broken, but the spirit of its worshippers, now largely members of the Guadalupana Mission, continues to soar. 

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, October 2025.

The funeral of Ida Ross Clark.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 24 January 1942.

This remarkable photograph captures Ida Ross Clark‘s coffin as it was wheeled from old Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in January 1942. She was buried in the Masonic Cemetery.

Though the Wilson Daily Times ran a brief obituary, only Black newspapers like the Journal and Guide could be relied upon to run respectful images for events the community deemed important.

The testimony concerning Officer Cooper.

In July 1915, Howard Barnes swore out a warrant against a police officer for striking him during an arrest. The Times reported some confusing jurisdiction and procedural matters and identified charges against Barnes himself — public drunkenness (to which he pleaded guilty) and resisting arrest. The paper then laid out the testimony concerning “Officer Cooper.” 

Howard Barnes was admittedly drunk and wandering from one cathouse to another in Wilson’s red light district. (These establishments were staffed by white sex workers for white clients.) He sat down to rest on the steps of “the colored Episcopal church,” Saint Mark’s, which stood at South and Lodge Streets. Then (or maybe before then — the timeline is hard to follow) Barnes stumbled around on the railroad tracks, perhaps falling and hitting his head. At some point, he crossed paths with Officer Cooper — and “Crazy Pete.” Cooper beat Barnes bloody. Or so Barnes claimed. Saint Mark’s rector, Rev. Robert N. Perry, was called to the stand. His testimony was notably circumspect. He “heard loud talking and heard two or three licks. Sound[ed] as if slaps with open hand. Went to door and saw officer going with Barnes.” In other words, he did not actually see what happened. Staying out of white folks’ business was a cultivated talent among African-Americans of the day. 

Wilson Daily Times, 9 July 1915.

Spring flower show winners.

Wilson Daily Times, 17 May 1950.

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