Jones Chapel United Methodist Church

Jones Chapel's record shows a congregation rebuilding after setbacks. The Black Methodist congregation organized in 1888, first met in a schoolhouse, and rode a circuit that took in Beeville, Goliad and Corpus Christi. Rev. M. C. Caviness was pastor when the first church went up in 1889 on land from Captain A. C. Jones. It became a separate charge in 1907. A storm damaged the building in 1916, a parsonage fire followed, and a rebuilt parsonage stood by 1917. Camp Ezell dates the present sanctuary to 1926.

What the plaque says

Jones Chapel United Methodist Church This church, organized in 1888, was originally known as Jones Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church. At first, it was part of a circuit, and ministers often traveled by stagecoach or horseback as they rotated Sunday services among churches. Jones Chapel shared the Rev. J.T. Jacobs with Fannin Street Methodist Church in Goliad, and during its first year held services in a schoolhouse. In 1889, members built a sanctuary on land that Capt. A.C. Jones donated to three former slaves who served as trustees of the new church. Charter members included Classie Douglas, Ann Felix, Felix Garner, Lawson Green, Serena Hodge, Ellen Jones, Bell Lott, Leanna Lott, Mose Lott, J.J. McCloud, Carrie McCampbell, P.M. McCarty, Kimmie Nancy, Elvira Newton, Rebecca Simms, Wesley Simms, I.E. Starnes, George Steward, Katy Ware, Sam Ware, Harriet Williams and Mary Williams, and many of the church's early members were former slaves. Although members have remodeled and repaired the church several times over the years and have made additions, such as a bell tower in 1913, the church is still at its original location. The congregation remains active in Beeville's African American community. Members take part in Bee County's Juneteenth festivities and participate in a variety of programs, including outreach ministries to help youth and the economically disadvantaged. Members also aim to provide food and other necessities to shut-ins in the community. Even after more than 100 years, Jones Chapel fervently continues to serve the African American community in Beeville. (2006)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Corpus Christi State Park — 24 mi
  A lake park in the South Texas brush country above Mathis, on a reservoir of the Nueces, with a Civilian Conservation Corps refectory and more than 200 bird species.
• Zaragoza Birthplace State Historic Site — 28 mi
  A rebuilt stone house beside La Bahía marking where Ignacio Seguín Zaragoza, the general of the Battle of Puebla and Cinco de Mayo, was born in 1829.
• Presidio La Bahía — 28 mi
  A Spanish fort on its third site since 1749, held in turn by filibusters, insurgents and Fannin's Fort Defiance, rebuilt in stone in the 1960s around a chapel that never fell.
• Fannin Memorial Monument — 29 mi
  The 1938 pink granite memorial over the common grave of Fannin's men, shot on the roads out of Goliad on Palm Sunday 1836, the grave itself found again only in the 1930s.

More markers nearby

• Lott Canada School — steps away
• American Legion Post 818 — steps away
• The Railroad in Bee County — 0.4 mi
• Commercial National Bank — 0.4 mi