Kadesh AME Zion Church in Edenton, NC Reopens After 23 Years Closed

Kadesh African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Edenton, North Carolina reopened on Sunday, April 26, 2026, after sitting closed for 23 years. Hurricane Isabel damaged the building in 2003, and the congregation spent more than two decades working to restore it.

The church at 117 E. Gale Street was first built in the early 20th century. It served as a cornerstone of Edenton's African American community until the hurricane forced its closure. The restoration project secured approximately $2 million in state-backed preservation funds, which made the full rehabilitation possible.

"When Hurricane Isabel struck, this building was almost beyond collapse, but it became a call to action," said Edenton Town Councilman Samuel Dixon. "Restoring this church felt like climbing a mountain. The cost, the scope, they were overwhelming."

For nearly a decade after the storm, the focus was simply on preventing further structural deterioration. The full restoration stretched over many years, requiring coordination among preservation groups, local officials, and contractors.

"That moment, everything changed. We knew we had won," Dixon said of the funding breakthrough.

The reopening service followed a traditional order of worship led by the Rev. Haywood Dillahunt. The Edenton District Choir provided music, and the Rev. W. Darin Moore, presiding bishop of the Eastern North Carolina Episcopal District, delivered the sermon.

State Rep. Ed Goodwin spoke at the service and called the reopening a milestone. "For that whole congregation to be back in that church, and they know the pain that we went through, is over. That's something special," Goodwin said.

Dixon closed his remarks by crediting the community's persistence. "This community protected this sacred place. It was saved by faith, it was saved by perseverance, and it was saved by a community that refused to let it go."