Woods New Hope Baptist Church
Tenaha, Panola County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Residents of the Woods community established a Baptist church in 1855. Members first met in a structure that was also used for worship by Methodists and as a schoolhouse. The congregation later constructed a building here, on property deeded by James Hooker; a storm destroyed the strucutre in 1917, and it was replaced in 1919. Since its early years, the church has assisted those in need. The congregation has also focused on education, and contributed to domestic and foreign missions. Today, Woods New Hope Baptist Church is one of the remaining vestiges of the once-thriving Woods community. It remians a spiritual leader for residents in Panola County. (2008)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Residents of the Woods community founded a Baptist church in 1855, at first sharing a building that also served Methodists and a school. A congregation later built here on land deeded by James Hooker; a 1917 storm destroyed the structure, which was rebuilt in 1919. Long devoted to aiding those in need, education, and missions, the church endures as one of the last remnants of the once-thriving Woods community.
Why it matters
Small rural congregations like this were the social and spiritual backbone of nineteenth-century East Texas settlements, often outlasting the communities that founded them.
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Related people
- · James Hooker
Themes & tags
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