New Hope Missionary Baptist Church

A Rev. Nathan Oggs is also named in the history of Providence Missionary Baptist Church, near Montalba in Anderson County. That history, quoted by the Texas Freedom Colonies Project, says Providence was established on August 13, 1865, within two months of Juneteenth, with twenty charter members and Oggs as first pastor. Its members were former slaves from the Oldham and Hamlett plantations who built a small wooden church on a hill. It names John Allen Shadrick as founder and Green Gardner, a former slave on the Oldham plantation, as financial backer. Providence Cemetery dates from 1890.

What the plaque says

New Hope Missionary Baptist Church This church was founded in 1873 by Reverend Nathan Oggs, a former slave and a pastor who organized four churches in the area. New Hope joined the Zion Hill District Baptist Association in 1887. The church, comprised of many former slaves, met at Rev. Oggs' home for several years until they built a church on 2.5 acres in 1876. The African American church expanded quickly and constructed a larger church on property purchased by Oggs in 1884. The church moved in the 1890s near Catfish Creek and again in 1957 to its present location. Ancestral membership spans nine generations. The New Hope Missionary Baptist Church has faithfully served the spiritual needs of the community for over 140 years. (2013)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 21 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.
• Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center — 26 mi
  A Texas Parks and Wildlife hatchery and visitor center in Athens where visitors can borrow tackle and fish a stocked pond, watch native species in gallery tanks and ride a tram around the hatchery.

More markers nearby

• Tennessee Colony — 3.8 mi
• Bethel Cemetery — 4.5 mi
• Judson Baptist Church — 8.9 mi
• Old Montalba — 10 mi