Brewington Baptist Church
Grapeland, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This church served the freed slaves of the Percilla, Augusta and Glover communities. A small wood-framed church was built in 1880 and served as the church building until 1906. This first location on Percilla Road also served as the Elliott Springs School for the African American children in the area. It is one of the oldest churches in Houston County. Freed slaves after the Civil War were determined to build their own church, and Brewington Baptist was promptly built on former plantation property. The church was named after the first pastor, Reverend Sam Brewer. After the first church building burned in 1906, the second location for the church was on the Covington family farm. The third location was on the William Fillmore Murchison family farm. The final and current location of the church is also on the former W.F. Murchison family farm in the Augusta community. The road from Brewington Baptist to Augusta was home to several other African American churches at the time. Though the African American churches and religious groups had varied beliefs and denominations of faith, most have held membership with Christian training institutions. County-wide Sunday School and B.T.U. Congress was organized after the creation of the Palestine District Association. In 1909, the Bowen District Association of Houston County was organized and later consolidated with the Palestine District in 1939. It consisted of over 50 Baptist churches in Anderson and Houston County areas that united to promote religious education and missions in East Texas. For more than 130 years, Brewington Baptist Church has served the religious community.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Determined to worship in a church of their own after emancipation, freed people of the Percilla, Augusta, and Glover communities built a small wood-framed church on former plantation land in 1880, naming it for their first pastor, the Reverend Sam Brewer. The same building served as the Elliott Springs School for local African American children. Over more than 130 years the congregation moved several times among family farms, and it joined the broader Baptist associations that promoted religious education across East Texas.
Why it matters
One of Houston County's oldest Black churches, Brewington Baptist shows how freed people made a house of worship and a schoolhouse the cornerstones of their newly independent communities.
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Related people
- · Sam Brewer
- · William Fillmore Murchison
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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