Persimmons Grove A.M.E. Church

Persimmons Grove African Methodist Episcopal Church is located on Dolley Madison, between Friendly Avenue and Market Street. It was founded in 1882 and named for a persimmon grove, near the church cemetery, off of Highway 421 (Market Street) near the airport. The denomination was founded in Philadelphia in 1816; so the Greensboro church was established less than 70 years after the denomination was founded and less than 20 years after the end of the civil war. The above church building was erected in 1958.

Native persimmons used to be a seasonal fruit that people greeted with great anticipation at the time of the first frost. They were one of those foods that people could gather in the fields and take home
to use in their family's special recipes. Tomorrow, the Persimmons Grove is having a special homecoming event. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they served breads, soups, and puddings made with persimmons! Today, the congregation is rather small now and, on average, there are fifty people at a service. Everyone who attends, if not literally family, feels like family. If you make the 11:00 service tomorrow, we're betting that the Rev. Debora Smith will make you feel welcome. We wish the church had a website and hope that someone is documenting the church history. We thought the name was unique to this North Carolina church; however, there is a Persimmon Grove in California, Kentucky, and Alabama (and maybe more).