white oak chapel
5410 NE Oak Ridge Drive
White Oak Chapel
This church building was moved to this location on the grounds of the Dr. James Compton Residence from an area around North Brighton & NE Vivion Rd in 1996. The church is the only known surviving example of the African American White Oak Community. The community developed in the late 1880s on land given to a group of former slaves and their descendants by Fountain Waller, a slave owner.
Waller’s will left 15 ½ acres to two brothers who were his slaves. The community that grew up on the land included residences, a two-story lodge/school building, a cemetery and a church. The church served as the center of social and religious activities for African American families within a 5-mile radius. Congregant Horace Hickman built the church in 1914 using lumber sawn at the nearby mill of Nat Murray, another church member.
The lodge/school burned in 1973, and the cemetery, while still existing, has no markers.
Mt. Love Baptist Church was moved to its current location and restored through the efforts of the Friends of Sacred Structures.
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“ACCORDING TO LEGEND, WHITE OAK, A “FREE” BLACK COMMUNITY, PROVIDED ONE OF THE MANY STOPS ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. THIS COMMUNITY DID NOT THRIVE SO MUCH ECONOMICALLY AS IT DID RELIGIOUSLY AND SOCIALLY. THE RESIDENTS’ LIVES CENTERED ON THE LOCAL CHURCH.”
— Evelaca Dobbins, “White Oak: A Tender Side of the Racial Divide”
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