Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. It Was An Old Fashion Homecoming "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore September 28, 1984 On the weekend of September 18, my wife and I had the pleasure of visiting with old friends, Betty and George Harrison at Arba, near Snow Hill in Greene County. George and Betty had worked with us for several years at Mount Olive College. On Sunday we attended homecoming and College Day at Hull Road Free Will Baptist Church. The pastor of the church, the Rev. Leon Grubbs, is a graduate of Mount Olive College and the guest speaker for the day, the Rev. Scott Sowers and his wife from Farmville are both graduates of the College. More than three hundred people attended the service. The wonderful fellowship of the occasion and the genuine friendliness of everyone brought back memories of the day when church gatherings in rural North Carolina were like family reunions. In fact, most of the members of the Hull Road Church are descendants of the pioneer familes who founded the church in 1871. Nostalgic memories were expressed during the service by James Hines who had been away from the community for many years. There had been much rain in the community and as a result the picnic dinner was served in a school cafeteria in Snow Hill. There was barbecue, fried chicken, fried country ham, roast beef, a variety of vegetables cooked country style and cakes, pies, custards, and other desserts. The Waldorf- Astoria in New York could not have served a more delectable dinner. Hull Road dates back to the time of the American Revolution and is believed to have been surveyed and built as a military road by Brig. General William Hull (1753-1825) of Newton, Massachusetts, who was later an officer in the War of 1812. Hull Road ran from Snow Hill to Kinston and was laid out on high elevations at the head of streams and therefore required minimum drainage and bridges. The Hull Road (original) Free Will Baptist Church was organized in 1871 and was daughter of old Wheat Swamp Free Will Baptist Church (now Christian). Wheat Swamp was founded in 1752 by the Rev. Joseph Parker and it is believed that there were Free Will Baptists in Greene County in the 1740's. The Free Will Baptists were the original Baptists and were known in England and in the colonies as General Baptists. In 1727, the Rev. Paul Palmer of Maryland organized Shiloh Baptist Church in what was then Chowan County, and has the distinction of being the oldest Baptist congregation in North Carolina. Even in 1871, distances were great in Greene County, and travel was by foot, horse, cart, and carriage. The Hull Road Free Will Baptist Church was organized by J. Parrott Mewborn, and thirty others. They met for a time in a log house, but in 1872 Harper and Tabitha Smith gave the present church lot. The first pastor was Elder Robert P. Hill. Baptist ministers were usually called elders prior to about 1900. Other early ministers were: Elder Benjamin W. Mitchell; Elder Henry Cunningham, Elder Charles Vause (baptized Zeb M. Harrison in Jones' Mill Pond), Elder Alfred Rouse, Elder T. Phillips (graduate of Trinity College), Elder J. C. Moye, and others. Baptisms in those days were done in mill ponds, and the records show that Hull Road had a baptismal service at a nearby pond on Christmas Day in 1918. The Rev. H. T. Sowers was licensed to preach in 1927. Early organists were Mrs. Agnes Mitchell and Miss Ida Hill. The visitors who came back to the homecoming from cities (often from extremely large, modern churches) could not help but be overwhelmed by the pioneer spirit of friendliness which prevails at Hull Road on this very special occasion. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Guy Potts ==============================================================