The Story
The New Hope congregation traces its roots to the years just after the Civil War, when the Black residents of the Buckhead area, mostly domestic workers for wealthy landowners, had no place of their own to worship. James "Whispering" Smith, a white Buckhead resident, willed two acres in 1872 for a church and school serving them, dying just days after signing the deed. The land hosted the widely attended New Hope camp meetings, and the church became one of Atlanta's earliest Black congregations to embrace African Methodism.
About this site
New Hope African Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery is a cemetery in Atlanta, Fulton County. It is one of 71 cemeteries documented in Fulton County, among 643 historic sites cataloged across the county on Georgia Roam.
The site sits at 33.8375, -84.4041 near Atlanta. The nearest cataloged historic site is Spotswood Hall (historic place), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include New Hope African Methodist Episcopal Church and Cemetery, Ellis, Rutherford and Martha, House, and Howell, Mrs. George Arthur, Jr., House.
This record is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
History
The New Hope congregation traces its roots to the years just after the Civil War, when the Black residents of the Buckhead area, mostly domestic workers for wealthy landowners, had no place of their own to worship. James "Whispering" Smith, a white Buckhead resident, willed two acres in 1872 for a church and school serving them, dying just days after signing the deed. The land hosted the widely attended New Hope camp meetings, and the church became one of Atlanta's earliest Black congregations to embrace African Methodism.
Sources: findagrave.com
Georgia