Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection open for research. Researchers are required to use microfilm copies.

Use Restrictions

No physical characteristics affect use of this material.

Preferred Citation

Mount Hope Baptist Church Records, 1835-1985 (M 081), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Acquisition Information

Mount Hope Baptist Church, Ashburn, VA

Alternative Form Available

Microfilm

Accruals

2012.0170

Processing Information

Elizabeth E. Preston, 12 December 2012

Historical Information

Mount Hope Baptist Church was established on 24 August 1835. It is located in an area known at the time as Red Hill, then Waxpool, and now Ashburn in Loudoun County, VA. The founding members of the church had been part of the congregation at Long Branch Baptist Church, near Middleburg. The charter members of Mount Hope chose Reverend Thaddeus Herndon (1807-1878), a member of the Long Branch congregation and an ordained minister, to lead the new church. Rev. Herndon served a circuit and was a pastor at several Baptist churches in Loudoun and surrounding counties. He was Mount Hope's minister from 1835-1943, and again from 1847-1852.

Mount Hope allowed enslaved and free African Americans to join the congregation and the minutes often refer to them as "colored Brothers" and "servant girls." Slaves of church members were allowed to join the church, and those whose owners did not attend Mount Hope could also join, if their owners gave written permission.

There is a gap in the minutes from 1860 to 1864, the years of the Civil War. In 1864, the minutes note that their "Pastor being deprived of preaching for us in consequence of the great trouble of our country, we had no preaching since the year 61." The minutes resume in 1865.

The exact location of the original church building is not known, but a church was erected on the present site of Mount Hope in 1853. The church is located near the intersection of roads now called Belmont Ridge Road and Waxpool Road, though at the time of building they were known as Gumspring Road and the Old Church Road, respectively. The church occupied this building until a new structure was erected in 1893 in the same location. Mount Hope Baptist Church continues to use this structure today.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of two church minute books, typescript transcriptions, and typed membership lists. There are several sizable gaps in the minutes, including one caused by the Civil War from 1860-1864. Other gaps span the years 1874-1888, and 1899-1917. Minute keeping was sporadic between 1917 and 1933. The membership lists contain marriage and baptism information from entries in the minute books. There is a resolution honoring Rev. George Washington Popkins (1855-1931), a long-serving pastor at Mount Hope. A microfilm copy of the records is available in the microfilm collection. There is also a reproduction diagram of the Mount Hope Baptist Church Cemetery with a list of burials and their placement in the cemetery. The original diagram remains in the custody of the church.

Arrangement

Folder

Related Material

Mt. Zion Old School Baptist Church Records, 1850-1980 (NUCMC 69); Mt. Zion Church Preservation Association, Inc., 1996-2010 (M 066), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Bibliography

Long Branch Baptist Church, http://longbranchbaptist.net/, accessed 12 December 2012.

Mt. Hope History, http://mthopebaptistchurch.net/mthopehistory.html, accessed 11 December 2012.

Taylor, George Baxter. Virginia Baptist Ministers, 3rd Series . Lynchburg, VA: J.P. Bell Company, 1912.

Other Finding Aid

None

Technical Requirements

Microfilm reader.