Riverhill Baptist Church

Riverhill Baptist Church Riverhill Baptist Church, 2.5 miles northwest, is among the region’s oldest African American congregations. Emancipated people founded Riverhill between 1868 and 1873, aided by the missionary efforts of local White Baptists who had supported the Union during the Civil War. In 1873 Riverhill became a charter member of the New Covenant Baptist Association, an organization of African American churches in northwestern NC and southwestern VA. The church’s first-known sanctuary, built ca. 1879, was replaced in 1949. A school and a branch of the Independent Order of St. Luke, a fraternal order that promoted Black economic independence, opened near Riverhill, creating a hub for the Black community.