WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (WAVY) — An excavation in Colonial Williamsburg is moving on to the next phase of learning more about the roots of an early African American church.

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation initially announced on August that they would dig at the site of the original permanent foundation of First Baptist Church.

The church, which is still around today, traces its congregation back to the 1770s and was made up of free and enslaved African Americans living in the Williamsburg area.

Today, in a post on social media, Colonial Williamsburg says the exploratory excavations at the Nassau Street site of the First Baptist Church are coming to a close.

For now.

Come January, the team will be headed to an expanded, 18-month excavation site.

The team further shared their latest finding on a blog.

To learn more about the excavation, click here.