Update March 7: Several details that appeared in the first publication of this article have been removed after information about the church provided in a news release from the Coastal Land Trust was negated by a current member of Reeves Chapel.
NAVASSA —- Reeves Chapel A.M.E. Church in Navassa will soon be restored.
Coastal Land Trust announced Monday it purchased the historic church, built by former slaves of Cedar Hill Plantation after the Civil War.
Related: How Navassa is working to preserve its culture as one-fourth of its town is owned by developers
The purchase was made possible by a donation from The Orton Foundation. Worn down from weather and time, the church will be restored for continued community, faith-based, and historic use.
Pillar of Navassa’s community
Toward the end of the first quarter of the 20th century, Reeves Chapel A.M.E. Church’s congregation relocated the church to its current location, according to the Coastal Land Trust. Using logs and oxen, the congregation moved the building from the riverfront to 224 Cedar Hill Road, about a half-mile journey.
In 2013, Navassa Mayor Eulis Willis helped establish the Cedar Hill/West Bank Heritage Foundation, according to Coastal Land Trust’s release Monday. Saving Reeves Chapel was the foundation’s leading goal. Reeves Chapel is one of southeastern North Carolina’s oldest African American buildings, Coastal Land Trust’s release states.
It’s also one of the region’s most culturally and historically significaAfricancan American structures, according to the land trust.
“Rice plantations once lined the western banks of the Cape Fear River, and despite the many contributions of the Gullah Geechee peoples to this region of the state, there are surprisingly few surviving structures from the Civil War and post-Civil War period that preserve their vital cultural heritage,” Coastal Land Trust’s release states. “Reeves Chapel is one of the last remaining buildings from that era still standing.”
More information on the Coastal Land Trust and its historic acquisition efforts, visit its website here.
