(Media release from United Methodist Communications):
Chubb Chapel United Methodist Church in Cave Spring, GA is the recipient of a $50,000 capital project grant from The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund’s Preserving Black Churches program awards. The initiative is funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. to help historic Black churches and congregations reimagine, redesign, and deploy historic preservation to protect the cultural assets and legacies they steward, tell their stories of resiliency and hope and carry their missions into the future.
“When I heard that Chubb Chapel UMC had received a grant I screamed and leaped out of my chair,” exclaimed Rev. Ruby Ford who serves as pastor for the church.
The historic church located at 1503 C Chubb Rd. SW in Cave City was founded in 1870 and built by the Chubb family. “This family came to Georgia from North Carolina in the 1830s and moved to Floyd and Polk Counties in the late 1850s establishing Chubbtown as a self-sufficient Black settlement and provided or obtained all of the resources that the town needed,” shares Dr. Clemmie Whatley the SPR chair for Chubb Chapel United Methodist Church and author of “The Chubbs: A Free Black Family’s Journey from the Antebellum Era to the Mid-1900s.”
Whatley adds that “ the Chubbs being free Blacks with many talents and gifts during that period of time and establishing a settlement was amazing in and of itself. I think the fact that Chubb Chapel United Methodist Church is the last non-residential building remaining from the historic town is one of the reasons that we stood out from other churches. We at one time had more than a church, we had a town.”
“The grant will enable the church’s team to make much needed repairs. This includes deteriorating features like the original bell in the belltower and windows that require fixes and painting,” notes Ford. “The addition to the church that includes the bathrooms and choir area need to be weatherized to eliminate moisture. We also want to make the church handicapped accessible among other important things.”
“This church is a gem in the North Georgia Conference! Dr. Clemmie Whatley and Rev. Ford have done good work and I look forward to celebrating with them,” shared Rev. Brian Tillman, the Director of Inclusion and Advocacy for The North Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church.
Those wishing to experience the historic rural church are invited to attend worship services that take place the second and fourth Sunday of each month at 11am ET.
Image courtesy of Chubb Chapel United Methodist Church.
