Media Coverage
Media
Press
AFRICAN AMERICAN CHURCH IN BUCKHEAD, ATLANTA
TO CELEBRATE 150-YEAR ANNIVERSARY ON APRIL 28
One of the oldest black churches in the nation, New Hope AME Church
will honor their legacy with a celebration including music, performances and
special guests
ATLANTA (April 9, 2019) – A national treasure based here in Atlanta turns 150 years old this month.
New Hope African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the oldest African American churches in the country, will celebrate its 150th anniversary during a special Sunday service on April 28 at 11:00 a.m. in their sanctuary located at 3012 Arden Rd NW, Atlanta GA 30305. The all-white attire celebration will include a number of special guests, performances and a keynote sermon from Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, Presiding Prelate of the 6th Episcopal District of the AME Church.
Nestled in the heart of Buckhead, New Hope is led by Pastor David F. Richards III and First Lady Linda Richards. The origins of the church date back to 1869 when recently emancipated African Americans began gathering to worship at “camp meetings” at the New Hope Camp Ground. The congregation continued meeting there until 1872, when they were given land by a white Buckhead farmer named James H. Smith, who willed three acres of his property for a church and school for “colored persons.” The church members subsequently built a tabernacle on the property which stood until 1965. The property’s original church building was built sometime prior to 1900.
The congregation continued to work as farm laborers and servants for white families in the area and lived in small neighborhoods in the vicinity. In 1927, the original church building on the property burned down. The current building’s basement was built the following year, while the new sanctuary was not completed until 1936. Across the street from the church is a 1.86-acre historic New Hope Cemetery containing dozens of graves. In 2009, New Hope AME Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with the cemetery located across the road.
“We are so excited to commemorate 150 years of history, fellowship and community at New Hope at our upcoming anniversary event,” says Pastor Richards. “We are a small church with a big heart and we represent the little-known legacy of African Americans in Buckhead. We invite everyone to come out and celebrate with us on April 28 and experience the warm spirit that has kept this church together for almost two centuries!”
For more information on New Hope AME Church, visit newhopeamechurch.org.
# # #
Media Contact:
Saptosa Foster
saptosa@gmail.com
404-554-6251
Media
Press
Church Seeks to Preserve its 150-year African-American history
A small church founded by former slaves in the late 1800s is preparing to save its unique history as part of Buckhead’s African-American life during a renovation of the sanctuary building and cemetery.
New Hope African Methodist Episcopal Church was first established in 1869 and has been in its current building since 1936. It’s preparing to celebrate its 150th anniversary next year.
“It really is all that is left of a very active African-American community in that area,” said Tamara Bazzle, the Buckhead Heritage board president.
Rev. David Richards, who has been pastor at the 3012 Arden Road church for about a year, said the Buckhead community has been enormously supportive of the church, despite the changes the neighborhood has undergone in the last 130 years and divisions displayed by the recent mayoral election.
“We’ve been overwhelmingly supported by the Buckhead community, even with the racial tension,” he said. “The Buckhead community has poured out love and support.
Restoration plans include identifying, repairing and cleaning grave markers in the historic, sprawling cemetery across the road from the church. Some grave markers in the cemetery, which was established by 1889, have toppled or begun deteriorating, as seen in a recent tour.
The first burial in the cemetery is documented as 1889, but unmarked graves suggest there were some done earlier, according to the church’s 2008 application for National Register of Historic Places designation.
The church received the historic designation in 2009, making it eligible for some grants that could help fund the proposed projects.
To restore a cemetery of that age, a special approved chemical solution is required to clean the headstones, as well as extreme care, Bazzle said.
She plans to lead a workshop and seminar on how to restorations, drawing on her participation in other similar workshops.
A specific date hasn’t been set yet, but she plans to host it in the fall and will invite members of other churches and the community to attend, she said.
There are many graves that are unmarked, but to locate them all would be extremely expensive and fundraising would be needed, Bazzle said.
Buckhead Heritage has done similar work at Harmony Grove, a cemetery the organization restored as its signature project, she said.
“Of the remaining African-American cemeteries, it is one of the largest and very well-preserved,” she said of the New Hope cemetery.
Other planned improvements include repairing a ceiling leak; repainting; installing new sanctuary carpet for a “fresh look”; and possibly replacing the marquee sign outside with one that’s “more historically accurate,” Richards said.
The small sanctuary building’s blue carpeted floor is covered with enough pews for 200 people; a drum set, piano and organ used each Sunday for worship; a choir seating area; and the requisite pulpit.
Wood has been donated to repair the façade of the main church building, which has rotted and warped in the sun and rain, Richards said. The church needs to raise $50,000 to complete the repairs and then will start making the improvements, he said.
The congregation was founded in 1869, but the church building there today is not that old. A 1927 fire destroyed the original building, and the one standing now was completed in 1936.
The land was donated by a white Buckhead landowner, James H. Smith, to the congregation in 1872. Smith is now buried in the cemetery, Bazzle said.
Among the family names found throughout the cemetery are the Maddoxes, Irbys, Defoors, Paces, and Calhouns. All are recognizable as early prominent white families in the Buckhead area, according to the National Register application.
Those church members kept their connections to the families by continuing to work for them and lived in small African-American neighborhoods near the church, according to the history.
“It represents the contributions that newly freed African Americans made in the building of a community infrastructure in the post-Civil War South,” the National Register application states.
The church is now noted as “atypical” for its surroundings, which is mostly upper-income houses owned by white families, according to the document, which was completed in 2008.
Although most in the neighborhood are not members, Bazzle said a lot of people in the neighborhood care about the church for its historic status and importance.
“It’s part of history that should not be lost,” she said.
Over the years, some church members have had to move farther and farther away as development pushed them out of the area, Bazzle said.
A few of the 150 active members live in Buckhead, but most commute from places like south Fulton County, Douglasville, Woodstock or McDonough, Richards said.
Some are new members, but many have been attending for years or have family ties the church and don’t want to leave, despite their long distance, he said.
Few said he grew up on Northside Drive and attended the school that was on the church grounds before it burned down in 1942.
His house was in disrepair, so his family moved to Margaret Mitchell Drive a few miles west. The house was later demolished for I-75 construction, pushing his family farther away.
He’s now lived in a house in west Atlanta for 52 years but still drives to attend the church. His grandparents, sister, and uncle are buried in the cemetery, he said.
“It is been very much a big part of my life,” he said. “There’s so much history there, and I want to see it preserved.”
CORRECTION: This article and its headline have been edited to correct the date the church was founded and its upcoming anniversary. The church was founded in 1869, not 1889, and will celebrate its 150th, not 130th, anniversary in 2019.
Original article located at https://www.reporternewspapers.net/2018/06/08/church-seeks-to-preserve-its-150-year-african-american-history/
Media
Press
149 Years of Service
New Hope AME Church
The New Hope African Methodist Episcopal Church is a modest wood-framed building on Arden Road surrounded by exclusive single-family residences. On its main façade, the church features a central front-gabled entrance portico that leads to the sanctuary. Meanwhile, a tower topped with a simple steeple and four small decorative urns stands to one side of the entryway. The church’s prominent granite foundation envelops a daylight basement.
Original Post: Buckhead Heritage
Source: http://buckheadheritage.com/new-hope-ame-church/