Biography

White’s Chapel United Methodist Church (Augusta, La.) is located at 120 White’s Chapel Road, nine miles south of Bunkie, Louisiana.

The church was founded in 1870 by Rev. Frederick White. At that time, it was known as Fairview Church in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Services were first held at a sugar house and later in a schoolhouse near the Milbum Post Office.

In 1894, Wilson A. O’Quin, Sr. donated land along Bayou Beouf to the church. The building was constructed by Hugh and Lee Evans at a cost of $1600 and was renamed after the founding pastor. The church is built in the Gothic style, with a tall steeple and a high cathedral ceiling. A pot-belly stove was located in front of the pulpit to provide heat in winter. The church cemetery is around the church.

In later years, the ceiling was lowered to allow the space to be heated more efficiently in the winter. The tall steeple, which had been hard to maintain, was replaced by a shorter steeple topped with a cross. The rebuilt steeple was a gift from Mrs. Gladys White Martin. The education building used for Sunday School was later sold and moved off of the property.

In 1983, White’s Chapel was added to the National Historical Register of Historic Places.

White’s Chapel United Methodist Church disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church in 2022.

Source: Timothy Hebert, “The Historical Register of the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church,” (Louisiana: Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, 2004), page AL-63.

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