Harriet's Chapel Battlefield Park

— Battle of Kinston Military Park —

Harriet's Chapel saw some of the most intense fighting of the Battle of Kinston. In 2010, Historical Preservation Group moved this building, once New Beaverdam Primitive Baptist Church, to this site to interpret Harriet's Chapel's role in the battle.

Harriet's Chapel
Harriet's Chapel vanished long ago and no photograph or drawing survives. It probably looked much like this building, which is typical of Civil War-era church buildings in this area. Union and Confederate regimental histories describe Harriet's Chapel. Most agree that it was an unpainted wood frame building supported by piers.

New Beaverdam Primitive Baptist Church
Its congregation built New Beaverdam Primitive Baptist Church shortly after the Civil War. The interior was left unfinished "in the primitive way." A pastor held services in the church once a month until the early 1950s, when the church closed. As was the customary, the deed passed to the last living member of the church, who sold the building. Moved from its original site, it became a tenant house and then a storage building. Michele Waller donated the building to Historical Preservation Group's Lenoir County Battlefields Commission in 2009. It stands near where Harriet's Chapel is thought to have stood.

(captions)
(lower center) Elder Joshua E. Mewborn served as the Elder of New Beaverdam Primitive Baptist Church from 1925 until the early 1950s, when the church closed. This photo was taken about 1949.

(upper right) The restored interior of the New Beaverdam Primitive Baptist Church building.

(center right) A Primitive Baptist Church baptizing, ca. 1940.

(lower right) Red Bank Primitive Baptist Church, Greenville, North Carolina, ca. 1950. Courtesy Bill Kittrell, Pitt County Historical Society

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Show me all markers in:  Kinston, NC  |  Lenoir County  |  28504  |  North Carolina  |  United States of America

Caring for the Wounded
The Night of December 13, 1862
The Confederate Defenses of Kinston
Fighting at Harriet's Chapel
Kinston Battlefield Park
First Battle of Kinston
Wessells' Advance—December 14, 1862
The Center of the Confederate Line
The Action in the Swamp
The Union Artillery

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