Built in 1894 during the Reconstruction Era, Zion Poplars Baptist Church served more than just religious functions. As one of the oldest independent African American congregations in Gloucester County, Virginia, the church also served the economic and educational needs of its community. It was built in the gothic revival style with vernacular detailing, attributed to the handiwork of Mr. Frank Braxton, a former slave. The church gained its name from the historical origins of the church and congregation, because the first services were held under seven united poplar trees. Four of these trees still stand on church grounds today.
Famous quotes containing the words poplars, baptist and/or church:
“The poplars are felled, farewell to the shade
And the whispering sound of the cool colonnade,”
—William Cowper (1731–1800)
“I am perhaps being a bit facetious but if some of my good Baptist brethren in Georgia had done a little preaching from the pulpit against the K.K.K. in the ‘20s, I would have a little more genuine American respect for their Christianity!”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“For often at Church I’ve seen the stained high glass
Pour out the Virgin and Saints, twist and untwist
The mortal youth of Christ astride an ass.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)