Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Church celebrates 105 years as Smithtown's sole historically black church

A cappella voices of a small choir rang out, praising God for blessings in times of trouble.

Those were sentiments that the five-member congregation of Smithtown's only historically black church knew all too well. Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Church celebrated its 105th anniversary last night with a gospel concert at Smithtown United Methodist Church.

"If it wasn't for prayer, I don't know if the doors would be open," said the Rev. Myrel Bailey-Walton, Trinity's pastor since 2012. "I know it's nobody but the Lord."

The two-room church has been sustained through tithes and donations, and with the support of its "sister church," Bethel African Methodist Episcopal, in Setauket, she said.

Many people don't know of the church's existence, partly because it's located in a residential neighborhood and because it's a predominantly black church -- although open to all -- in a predominantly white area, members said. African-Americans represented 1.1 percent of the Town of Smithtown's population of 117,801, according to the 2010 Census. The same year whites were 93.2 percent of the town's population.

But the broader community has reached out to the church, including Trinity AME in the town's 350-year anniversary celebrations and praying with congregants after Dylann Roof, who is white, was accused of shooting to death nine people in Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. "They sat with us. They cried with us," said Bailey-Walton. "The outpouring was wonderful."

Smithtown town historian Brad Harris said the church began after freed blacks looking for a place to worship were shut out of the town's Methodist church.

The church building was erected in 1910 at the corner of New York Avenue and Wildwood Lane. Before its construction, parishioners worshipped in a barnlike building with no steeple that was heated by a single coal stove, Bailey-Walton said.

In 1931, Isadora Smith -- a descendent of the town's founding family -- transferred the property to the congregation for $1, wrote historian and author Noel Gish.

Church pianist Bowei Chen, 24, originally of Beijing, China, now of St. James, said, "People's spirits are very exuberant in the worship. Every week I'm there, I don't feel like I'm working. I feel like I'm gathering with a small family and that intimacy is something that touches me."

Chen is the longest-standing parishioner. He became a member in 2009, after hearing about the church from a faculty member at Stony Brook University where he is a doctoral student.

Member Patricia Chase, 71, who moved last year to North Carolina from Deer Park, runs the church's Facebook page to attract more visitors. "I pray for, on a daily basis, that God will fill the seats, and bless pastor, and let the church remain open and helping people," she said.

An anniversary celebration is planned Sunday with dinner at 2 p.m. and service at 3 p.m. -- both open to the public and held at the church at 229 New York Ave., Smithtown.