Hickory Grove Church (12)
Hickory Grove Church (12)
Dr. Joe Sutton
BAPTIST INTERLUDE (Cont.)
Hickory Grove was established by 1841 as a Free Will Baptist (F.W.B.) church. After separation from the F.W.B. in 1864, it began leaning Methodist. Supply preachers from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (M.E.C.S.) Conference filled their pulpit during the mid to late-1860s. Prior to becoming a permanent Methodist work, the 1870s brought about a denominational interlude with the Baptists that lasted a dozen years.
Personal accounts of visiting preachers confirm Hickory Grove was a Baptist church at one time. For example, the weekly periodical, North Carolina Christian Advocate, published the reflections of evangelist Rev. Dr. Esek Arnold Wright (1842-1920), who preached a two-week revival at Hickory Grove in the spring of 1891. He was joined by Rev. William L. Harris (1810-1893), then-pastor in La Grange. Rev. Wright's recollections identified the Church's earlier years as a Baptist work:
"Brother Harris and I...rode out to 'Hickory Grove Church' (in the rich 'whortleberry' section of Lenoir County)–a church located about five miles southeast from La Grange. This church was first built by a denomination known as the North Carolina Baptists....The preacher who organized this church was Rev. B. W. Nash, the leader of the denomination in North Carolina....As long as Rev. Nash had charge of this church it flourished 'as a green olive tree.' Rev. Mr. Nash was an educated man–a true Christian and a first-rate preacher; he was gifted as an orator–the people of 'whortleberry' [i.e., Bucklesberry] liked him very much. The church building built under his administration, was a fine country church..."
Rev. Wright's account of the revival is highly descriptive and detailed, leaving little doubt that the church where he preached in 1891 was indeed Hickory Grove Church of Bucklesberry. According to other available records, though, some of his reflections were not quite accurate, probably because he was not privy to Hickory Grove's early history.
Regarding Rev. Bushrod Washington (B. W.) Nash's (1831-1911) role in the origin of Hickory Grove, the Church was not actually organized by him. His pastorate at Hickory Grove did not begin until around 1882, some four decades after the Church was established as a F.W.B. work. Further, the Hickory Grove Church building was not constructed under his administration, as Dr. Wright indicated. Rather, it was built about 1860, more than a decade before Rev. Nash's first year as pastor.
Nonetheless, Rev. Nash was admittedly a central figure during Hickory Grove's Baptist years, despite his brief tenure as pastor. A leader of the Union Baptist Association (U.B.A.), he undoubtedly encouraged the Church's proclivity toward the Baptist denomination. In one respect, their Baptist attraction was expected. A faction of the General Conference of F.W.B. churches, with which Hickory Grove was previously affiliated for nearly a quarter-century, merged with the U.B.A. in 1859.
Next month's article will discuss more about Hickory Grove's Baptist years. Interested readers may enjoy a previously published Bucklesberry article titled "Buying and Selling" available at https://bit.ly/4d4ilaN.
