Liberty Methodist Church

The bell came out of a wreck. The Black Cloud was a sidewheel steamboat built at Orange in 1864, about 129 feet long, and the Texas Maritime Museum says she reportedly hit a snag and sank in 1871, was raised, and ran again before being abandoned in 1873. Her remains turned up in 1965 during pipeline work, and Texas A&M's Nautical Archaeology Program later surveyed them at the request of Liberty residents. The Handbook of Texas adds that by 1855 this congregation had more Black members than white.

What the plaque says

Liberty Methodist Church Late in 1840, the Rev. Hugh Fields, migrating to Texas from Mississippi, preached the first Methodist sermon in Liberty in the log courthouse. Liberty was one of 17 communities in the Republic of Texas to receive a ministerial appointment from the newly organized Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church meeting in Dec. 1840. The Rev. John C. Woolam was named in the spring of 1841 to serve this congregation, the oldest church organization in Liberty County. Members worshiped at the Courthouse, in home or brush arbors until 1846, when they built a log church. After it was destroyed by a storm, the congregation moved to its present location and built a one-room frame structure in 1854. The church acquired a bell in 1873 from the steamboat "Black Cloud", which sank in the Trinity River. This bell is still in use. In 1904 a new two-room frame edifice was constructed. It was replaced in 1930 by a two-story brick structure, which became an education building after a new sanctuary was erected in 1953. This congregation participates in many community events, including the "Brotherhood Banquet", sponsored by the men's Bible class since 1927 and supported by persons of all faiths. (1977)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center — 3.8 mi
  A state archives and museum north of Liberty with an exhibit on Southeast Texas history and a campus of historic buildings, including an 1848 house and an 1898 church.
• San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site — 27 mi
  The 1,200 acres of coastal prairie and marsh where the Texas Revolution ended in eighteen minutes, and the 567-foot shaft of fossil-studded limestone that has stood over them since 1939.

More markers nearby

• Casa Consistatorial (Courthouse Square) — steps away
• Edward Thomas Branch — steps away
• Captain William M. Logan — steps away
• Plaza Constitucional (Municipal Square) — steps away