From the Heritage Trust:
New Hope Missionary Baptist Church-Estill
Nominated by Kendall Aldridge
New Hope Missionary Baptist Church is a rare example of an early twentieth century rural African American Delta church. Constructed in 1918, the building survived the great flood of 1927 because of its close proximity to Deer Creek, which is higher than the surrounding land. A wood-framed building with hints of Gothic Revival style in the infilled pointed arches, the abandoned church has several large holes in the roof, allowing rain to poor in. In addition to the leaking roof, there are cracks between much of the clapboard siding, allowing water to blow in during a storm.
These snapshots are from a Motorola Moto G5 mobile phone. I also took some real photographs on Kodak TMax 100 film with a Spotmatic, but these need to be developed and scanned. Please wait for an update.
Update: July 2018. Preservation Mississippi announced that the The Delta National Heritage Area announced its 2018 grant awards. One of these was to support stabilization of the church in Estill:
• Mississippi Heritage Trust, Jackson, MS – $24,500 to support preservation of the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church building in Estill, Washington County, MS, by installing a metal roof, securely storing church pews and furnishings, and engaging the congregation and other residents in developing a long-term plan for use of the building
5 comments:
Thank you...
What happened with the grant?! The church looks awful it is so sad!!!
Sorry, Anonymous. I have no information on the grant or on restoration efforts.
Yes, it is very sad that this building is being allowed to fall into utter decay because you have competing groups of people. None of them, including myself, has any legal rights to take over the building's restoration because it’s not owned by any of us.
A group of people supposedly formed an organization five years ago to spearhead the restoration. Other than the grant from the Mississippi Heritage Foundation, which I think was used to replace the roof, they have not done anything since.
Supposedly, they had formed a nonprofit corporation to oversee the building's restoration. Some others from Mississippi and I were born and grew up in the area, and I attempted to start a restoration fund for the same purpose. However, I was forced to temper our efforts because this group apparently wanted fame and notoriety for their work.
The problem is they have not done a doggone thing since 2020. It is a mischaracterization that the Mississippi Heritage Foundation obtained the grant. The Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area obtained the grant - http://www.msdeltaheritage.com/ NOTE: The mission of The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University is to promote a greater understanding of Mississippi Delta's culture and history and its significance to the world through education, partnerships, and community engagement.
The Delta Center for Culture and Learning and the intern gave the grant money to the Mississippi Heritage Foundation for management. They interned, took the grant, and coordinated the roof replacement with this group.
Further, the son of a plantation owner, the Aldridge Family, from back in the day, who now, or at least then, was a member of the Mississippi Heritage Foundation, recommended that the church be placed on the list of places that should be restored in Mississippi.
Following is a link to a page I had set up to try and raise money for the buildings restoration, but I was forced to put it on hold because of the conflict with the other group was supposed to set up a nonprofit and manage the buildings restoration.
https://www.facebook.com/MyEstill?mibextid=LQQJ4d
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