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,”
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—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.”
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