New Hope Missionary Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way up in Upshur County, there is a church with a story that keeps folding back on itself, like a good piece of leather that just won't quit. New Hope Missionary Baptist Church.

Let's talk about it. It was organized on September 22, 1855, with fifteen charter members, out in the New Hope community, about four miles to the northwest of where you're standing now. Fifteen people.

That's it. That's your foundation. They didn't have a sanctuary, didn't have a grand hall with a steeple pointing up at heaven.

They held their monthly meetings in a one-room log school. Humble beginnings, but the kind that tend to stick. Then 1872 rolls around, and somebody gave that church something.

The building, and two acres of land, just given to them. A gift. The congregation kept growing, kept meeting, kept holding on.

By 1883 they had a new sanctuary standing tall. A real church building, raised up by the hands of a community that had been gathering for nearly thirty years by then. Now here is where the story gets interesting.

That 1883 sanctuary, it didn't stay where it was put. In 1914, it was torn down and rebuilt, moved two miles to the northwest, over to the Crossroads community. They didn't abandon it.

They took it with them. Then came 1950, and the church purchased an acre of land at its present site. And when it came time to put up a new building, well, they did what this congregation had always done.

They used the lumber from the old structure. Same wood, new walls, new roof, new chapter. The thing about New Hope Missionary Baptist Church is this: many of the members sitting in those pews today are descendants of the very people who composed that original congregation back in 1855.

The names may have changed, the faces are younger, but the roots go all the way down. Fifteen charter members in a one-room log school. That's where it started.

And it's still standing.

What the marker says

Organized September 22, 1855, with 15 charter members, in New Hope community (4 mi. NW). Monthly meetings were held in a one-room log school. The building, with 2 acres of land, was given to the church in 1872. A new sanctuary erected in 1883 was torn down and rebuilt at Crossroads community (2 mi. NW), 1914. In 1950 the church purchased an acre of land at the present site. A new building was erected, again using lumber from the old structure. Many present members are descendants of people who composed original congregation.