Foster Memorial AME Zion Church in Tarrytown, where fugitive slaves found refuge during the Civil War, recently marked the 160th anniversary of the church’s establishment on Wildey Street in October 1864.
The founding of the church by Amanda and Henry Foster and two friends dates to 1860, when congregants gathered in Amanda Foster’s confectionery store on Main Street.
Amanda Foster was a free black woman who was born in Albany in the household of Gov. Dewitt Clinton, according to the Historical Society of Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown.
While working for the Arkansas governor, she contributed to the Underground Railroad movement by using her free papers to help a young slave girl escape in Kentucky, according to the African American Registry.
Amanda Foster returned to New York in 1837 and started her business in Tarrytown, where she met and married Henry Foster.
Foster AME Zion Church provided food and shelter to fugitive slaves escaping to Canada during the Civil War, according to the African American Registry, and also assisted slaves who settled in Tarrytown.
Amanda Foster, known as the “Mother of the Church” died in Tarrytown in 1904 at the age of 97.
At its Nov. 4 meeting, the Village of Tarrytown Board of Trustees celebrated the church’s milestone, calling it “an important part of the community fabric in the village, and a home for spiritual guidance for its many congregants over the years.”
