New Hope is a small, old cemetery at New Hope Baptist Church. The church and cemetery are indicated on the U.S.G.S. Scotts Hill quadrangle (1986). The church was founded in 1842. The cemetery is at least that old, if not slightly older. It is full and is generally no longer used.

David Donahue recorded New Hope Cemetery in 1990 and added military marker information in 2004. The cemetery was recorded at an unknown date by Bobbie Bartholomew.



The church was established under its first Church Covenant dated September 24, 1842, though church records begin in June 1842. Like many antebellum churches, the membership was mixed race.



It is probably that at least some of the black members of the church and possibly some other blacks as well are buried in the church cemetery. If blacks are buried in marked graves within the cemetery as it exists in 2004, their burials are most likely represented by a line of about 8 small fieldstone markers in the middle of the western-most row of the cemetery.



Black church members under the first Church Covenant:

Rose, property of Wm. Rhodes, joined September 1842

Mary, property of Sarah White, joined May 1844

Sarah, the property of W. Rhodes, joined July 1846

Hetty, the property of W. J. Oneal, joined November 1850 (various members of the Oneal family and Hetty were dismissed by letter, September 1854)



In December 1862 all members were given letters of dis-mission and the church ceased to meet until 1867.

New Hope Baptist Church was reorganized in June 1867. The reorganized church also had black members:

Ciller Williams 'colard', joined August 1867

Betty Williams 'colard', joined August 1867 (on the second membership list it is noted that she was expelled but the monthly records do not seems to include a date or reason for her expulsion.

Also listed as 'colard' in the second membership list is T. L. A. Lomax (female). However, this 'colard' designation probably is a mistake. She is not listed as 'colard' in the monthly record of November 1868 when she joined. This may be Temperance Lillian Lomax (ca. 1854-bef. 1888), later to be first wife of Francis Marion Harrington. This white couple is buried in fieldstone-marked graves just to the south of the marker for Emma Harrington. (some info from the TNGen.Web site)