Peter Durrett

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Peter Durrett (c. 1733–1823), also listed as Peter Duerrett, was an enslaved Baptist preacher who, with his wife, helped establish the First African Baptist Church of Lexington, Kentucky, by 1790. By his death the church had about 300 members. It was the first black congregation west of the Allegheny Mountains, the first black Baptist church in Kentucky, and one of the oldest black congregations in the United States. The church’s historic building was completed in 1856 and later listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Durrett was born enslaved to Captain Duerrett on a plantation in Caroline County, Virginia. He learned many skills from his mother and other enslaved people. Around age 25, during the First Great Awakening, he became a Baptist and an active exhorter.

Durrett married a woman enslaved on another farm. In 1781 he learned her enslaver planned to move to Kentucky, and he asked Captain Duerrett for help. The two enslavers arranged a swap so the couple could stay together, and Durrett prepared to relocate.

Durrett was enslaved by Joseph Craig, who, with his family and others, migrated in 1781 with The Travelling Church led by Rev. Lewis Craig from Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Durrett helped Captain William Ellis guide several hundred migrants on the roughly 600-mile journey through the Appalachian Mountains, earning the nickname Old Captain. He likely learned the route on an earlier journey with Ellis.

In Kentucky, Durrett became a Baptist preacher, though he was never formally ordained. In 1784 he and his wife were members of Craig’s church at Boone’s Creek, about eight miles east of Lexington. When that church dissolved, Craig allowed them to hire themselves out and move to Lexington. They were hired mainly by the pioneer John Maxwell, who helped them build a cabin at Maxwell Spring. There Durrett gathered enslaved people and began preaching. In the early years they met in various places, and Durrett baptized many of his listeners. He also administered the Lord’s Supper as the congregation formed.

By 1790 they had founded the First African Church of Lexington, now known as the First African Baptist Church. Its early members were enslaved people, later joined by free blacks in the Lexington area. The congregation grew to about 300 people during Durrett’s lifetime. In 1815 the trustees, all free men of color, bought their first property for a place of worship.

Durrett died in 1823, about 90 years old. He was succeeded by Rev. London Ferrill, a free man of color whose wife had purchased his freedom from slavery in Virginia. Ferrill served for more than 30 years and grew the congregation to about 1,820 members by 1850, making it the largest church in Kentucky, black or white. Ferrill was ordained by the white First Baptist Church in Lexington, which chose to accept Durrett’s baptized members as Ferrill’s without requiring re-baptism.