New Hope Missionary Baptist Church

Fifteen charter members signed on in 1855, and the church's own history names them. Among them were Aaron, listed as a servant of Louis Ballard, and Emaline, also listed as Ballard's servant, received three days later. Upshur County counted about 2,300 enslaved people in 1857. Delegates went to the Soda Lake Association, and the congregation met monthly in a one-room log house that also served as a school. The church disciplined members for drunkenness, dancing and vile language. A membership list from July 1874 counted 32 men and 36 women.

What the plaque says

New Hope Missionary Baptist Church 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. (1970)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tyler State Park — 17 mi
  A 985-acre park eight miles north of Tyler, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1941 around a 64-acre spring-fed lake, with more than 13 miles of trails.
• East Texas Oil Museum — 21 mi
  A Kilgore College museum that rebuilds the 1930s oil boom in a full-scale Boomtown with a general store, drugstore and newspaper office, plus dioramas, films and antiques given by East Texans.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 21 mi
  A free county park north of Tyler on the site of the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi, with a kiosk, an interpretive trail and a historical society museum downtown.
• Goodman-LeGrand House and Museum — 24 mi
  A Tyler house begun in 1859 as four rooms, enlarged by the Goodman family over 73 years, and left to the city in 1939 with its furnishings, in a garden that fills a city block.

More markers nearby

• Alex Earp — 5.9 mi
• Kelsey Mormon Colony — 6.9 mi
• Kelsey School — 7.2 mi
• West Mountain Cemetery — 7.9 mi