Gloucester County’s second oldest African American congregation will celebrate 158 years of serving the Lord this week. The historic Bethel Baptist Church, established in 1867, will hold its anniversary worship service at 3 p.m. Sunday. The Rev. Vincent Pryor and the congregation of New Mount Zion Baptist Church will be the special guests.
The church, located on Hickory Fork Road, was once known as the Old Sassafras Stage Church. It dates to when Sassafras Stage and nearby Allmonds Wharf were at the peak of their activity as hubs of commerce and transportation. In 1867, Dr. J. Catlett Stubbs donated one acre of land to his formerly enslaved butler, James F. Lemon. Lemon and others used the land for their church, which was first held on crude benches set up under brush arbors—canopies made of tree branches and other foliage.
According to Bethel Baptist Church historian Dr. Dorothy Cooke, “during the days of slavery it was illegal for Black Christians to worship without at least one Whit...