Historic Places of Worship

In St. Augustine, Florida, stands the replicated Mission Nombre de Dios, with a 208-foot stainless steel cross marking the site of the first known Catholic mass celebrated in Florida in 1620. In Montgomery, Alabama, the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church is known to many as the birthplace of the civil rights movement. Newport, Rhode Island's Touro Synagogue, dedicated in 1763, urged new leaders Washington and Jefferson to form a government "which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance."

From the Anasazi kivas of Colorado built in the 1300s to the Peace Chapel constructed in 1970 on the Canadian border, this work examines the roots of 51 sites throughout the United States. Each entry provides background on the place of worship and its founders along with its location and religious affiliation. Sites include those devoted to Indian or Native American, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, Baha'i, and other beliefs.