Mount Nebo Church
Blackstone, Virginia
Mt. Nebo Church was founded shortly after the Civil War in 1867. A northerner named Mr. Rickets bought the place called Oak Hill and began preaching to a group of African Americans at this place in the woods. The audience increased as people from the surrounding communities came to hear him. They built a brush arbor under which to worship. As the crowd grew larger, Mr. Rickets gave the congregation one acre of land on which they built a log church and named it Mt. Nebo.
One day PF Fitzgerald (shown right), a young man who was born in Mississippi and sold in Virginia, told the Mt. Nebo congregation that if they would pay for his education, he would come and preach to them for the rest of his life. The congregation found the money for his education and the young man kept his promise. Rev. P.F. Fitzgerald became the first pastor of Mt. Nebo. People came from near and far to join Mt. Nebo, and the need arose for a new church. A march was held in which everyone was asked to give 25 cents, and the new church was built.
The congregation continued to grow, a Sunday school was organized, and again the need for a new church became apparent. The third church was built, which remains standing today. In 1967, the church celebrated its centennial. The Mt. Nebo congregation worshiped in this structure until 1978, when they moved to the new edifice across the road. Also located across the road were Mt. Nebo schoolhouses. The last structure, a two-room school-house, stood until the late 1970s.
Marker is on Mt. Nebo Road 0.4 miles from Walnut Hill Road, on the left when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
