{"id":1566,"date":"2025-03-28T04:26:45","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T04:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/?p=1566"},"modified":"2025-05-06T17:50:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T17:50:25","slug":"first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/","title":{"rendered":"First Baptist Church Of Sugar Grove"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>This article is being published in memory of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bradleysfh.com\/obituary\/nancy-purefoy\">Nancy Ann Purefoy<\/a> 10\/26\/1933 &#8211; 3\/26\/2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>This beautiful little church house dates back to 1915 in the community of Sugar Grove. Records found at Smyth County Courthouse reflect March 10, 1915, a deed was made by Chaley Barber and his wife Alice to Andrew White Walter Stuart and A. F. Wilson who were both named as trustees. The sum of money exchanged to execute this deed was $30. This deed was made with specific restrictions that read <em>&#8220;&#8230;said lot to be used for building a church house and not for any other purpose. Said church to be known as Shugar Grove Missionary Babtis Church- colored.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>James Purefoy provided the following information and photo about the church on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/SugarGroveHistory\">Rye Valley History Group<\/a>:<br \/>\n<span class=\"x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u\" dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\"><em>This was the First Baptist Church in Sugar Grove, Va. It was the African<\/em><\/span><span class=\"x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u\" dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\"><em><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1568 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Shirley-Lee-Gaskins-Nancy-Lee-Purefoy-Bobbie-Louise-Lee.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Shirley-Lee-Gaskins-Nancy-Lee-Purefoy-Bobbie-Louise-Lee.jpg 225w, https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Shirley-Lee-Gaskins-Nancy-Lee-Purefoy-Bobbie-Louise-Lee-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/em><\/span><span class=\"x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u\" dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\"><em> American Church in the area.I can remember attending all day services there as a child. My mother, Nancy Lee Purefoy, attended there as a child. Her father, my grandfather, Fred Lee was a deacon there. My grandmother, Cleo Lee, was a deaconess. Some of the names of other people that attended were Barbers, Stuarts, Lees, Goins, Madisons, Thompsons, and Murrells. There were others that I cannot mention. This information was provided by my mother Nancy Lee Purefoy.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Services continued at this church into the early 2000s. David Rutherford, then employed by Rye Valley Water Authority, shared the following about the property:<\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><em>When Rye Valley Water Authority was getting easements for new water line I traced the deeds back to try to find a signatory for the church property. Ended up getting Mrs. Cleo Lee to sign. Great Lady.<\/em><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><em>The deeds referred to it being in the \u201ccolored section of Sugar Grove\u201d. The details in the deed made it sound like the area was from the church back to where Gene Ross now lives out to Flat Ridge Road and back to Quarter Branch Road.<\/em><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1569 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/First-Baptist-Church-Of-Sugar-Grove-2024_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"326\" height=\"276\" srcset=\"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/First-Baptist-Church-Of-Sugar-Grove-2024_1.jpg 631w, https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/First-Baptist-Church-Of-Sugar-Grove-2024_1-300x254.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 326px) 100vw, 326px\" \/>(2022-2024) The building collapsed under a heavy snow. The photo at left was what remained of this beautiful little church as of 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The church is shown on a 1935 Quadrangle map by location only, no name. Also on that same map, just down the road near the Quarter Branch and Flat Ridge Fork on the opposite side is another church labeled as &#8220;Union Ch.&#8221;\u00a0 It is speculated that this could have served as the Sugar Grove Negro School up until the early 40s. The Sugar Grove Negro School is documented by Evelyn Thompson Lawrence in a book available about all of the Colored Schools in the county that can be found in the Heritage Room at the Smyth County Public Library in Marion, VA however, it does not mention any specific location where this school was located.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>*If you have additional information to add about this church, please comment or use the <a href=\"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/contact\/\">contact<\/a> form. We would love to add additional information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article is being published in memory of Nancy Ann Purefoy 10\/26\/1933 &#8211; 3\/26\/2025 This beautiful little church house dates back to 1915 in the community of Sugar Grove. Records found at Smyth County Courthouse reflect March 10, 1915, a deed was made by Chaley Barber and his wife Alice to Andrew White Walter Stuart and A. F. Wilson who were both named as trustees. The sum of money exchanged to execute this deed was $30. This deed was made with specific restrictions that read &#8220;&#8230;said lot to be used for building a church house and not for any other purpose. Said church to be known as Shugar Grove Missionary Babtis Church- colored.&#8221; James Purefoy provided the following information and photo about the church on the Rye Valley History Group: This was the First Baptist Church in Sugar Grove, Va. It was the African American Church in the area.I can remember attending all day services there as a child. My mother, Nancy Lee Purefoy, attended there as a child. Her father, my grandfather, Fred Lee was a deacon there. My grandmother, Cleo Lee, was a deaconess. Some of the names of other people that attended were Barbers, Stuarts, Lees, Goins, Madisons, Thompsons, and Murrells. There were others that I cannot mention. This information was provided by my mother Nancy Lee Purefoy. Services continued at this church into the early 2000s. David Rutherford, then employed by Rye Valley Water Authority, shared the following about the property: When Rye Valley Water Authority was getting easements for new water line I traced the deeds back to try to find a signatory for the church property. Ended up getting Mrs. Cleo Lee to sign. Great Lady. The deeds referred to it being in the \u201ccolored section of Sugar Grove\u201d. The details in the deed made it sound like the area was from the church back to where Gene Ross now lives out to Flat Ridge Road and back to Quarter Branch Road. &nbsp; (2022-2024) The building collapsed under a heavy snow. The photo at left was what remained of this beautiful little church as of 2024. The church is shown on a 1935 Quadrangle map by location only, no name. Also on that same map, just down the road near the Quarter Branch and Flat Ridge Fork on the opposite side is another church labeled as &#8220;Union Ch.&#8221;\u00a0 It is speculated that this could have served as the Sugar Grove Negro School up until the early 40s. The Sugar Grove Negro School is documented by Evelyn Thompson Lawrence in a book available about all of the Colored Schools in the county that can be found in the Heritage Room at the Smyth County Public Library in Marion, VA however, it does not mention any specific location where this school was located. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; *If you have additional information to add about this church, please comment or use the contact form. We would love to add additional information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,24,18,2,187,189,190,191,193,188,195,40,192],"tags":[25,19,137,15],"class_list":["post-1566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-barbers","category-black-history","category-churches","category-communities","category-first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove","category-goins","category-lee","category-madison","category-murrell","category-purefoy","category-stuart","category-sugar-grove","category-thompson","tag-black-history","tag-churches","tag-communities","tag-sugar-grove"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>First Baptist Church Of Sugar Grove - Rye Valley History<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Baptist Church Of Sugar Grove - Rye Valley History\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article is being published in memory of Nancy Ann Purefoy 10\/26\/1933 &#8211; 3\/26\/2025 This beautiful little church house dates back to 1915 in the community of Sugar Grove. Records found at Smyth County Courthouse reflect March 10, 1915, a deed was made by Chaley Barber and his wife Alice to Andrew White Walter Stuart and A. F. Wilson who were both named as trustees. The sum of money exchanged to execute this deed was $30. This deed was made with specific restrictions that read &#8220;&#8230;said lot to be used for building a church house and not for any other purpose. Said church to be known as Shugar Grove Missionary Babtis Church- colored.&#8221; James Purefoy provided the following information and photo about the church on the Rye Valley History Group: This was the First Baptist Church in Sugar Grove, Va. It was the African American Church in the area.I can remember attending all day services there as a child. My mother, Nancy Lee Purefoy, attended there as a child. Her father, my grandfather, Fred Lee was a deacon there. My grandmother, Cleo Lee, was a deaconess. Some of the names of other people that attended were Barbers, Stuarts, Lees, Goins, Madisons, Thompsons, and Murrells. There were others that I cannot mention. This information was provided by my mother Nancy Lee Purefoy. Services continued at this church into the early 2000s. David Rutherford, then employed by Rye Valley Water Authority, shared the following about the property: When Rye Valley Water Authority was getting easements for new water line I traced the deeds back to try to find a signatory for the church property. Ended up getting Mrs. Cleo Lee to sign. Great Lady. The deeds referred to it being in the \u201ccolored section of Sugar Grove\u201d. The details in the deed made it sound like the area was from the church back to where Gene Ross now lives out to Flat Ridge Road and back to Quarter Branch Road. &nbsp; (2022-2024) The building collapsed under a heavy snow. The photo at left was what remained of this beautiful little church as of 2024. The church is shown on a 1935 Quadrangle map by location only, no name. Also on that same map, just down the road near the Quarter Branch and Flat Ridge Fork on the opposite side is another church labeled as &#8220;Union Ch.&#8221;\u00a0 It is speculated that this could have served as the Sugar Grove Negro School up until the early 40s. The Sugar Grove Negro School is documented by Evelyn Thompson Lawrence in a book available about all of the Colored Schools in the county that can be found in the Heritage Room at the Smyth County Public Library in Marion, VA however, it does not mention any specific location where this school was located. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; *If you have additional information to add about this church, please comment or use the contact form. We would love to add additional information.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rye Valley History\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/162341033791855\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-28T04:26:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-06T17:50:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/First-Baptist-Church-of-Sugar-Grove.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1228\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6308938c62392deddff1e341295e52f6\"},\"headline\":\"First Baptist Church Of Sugar Grove\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-28T04:26:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-06T17:50:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":494,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/First-Baptist-Church-of-Sugar-Grove.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Black History\",\"Churches\",\"Communities\",\"Sugar Grove\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Barbers\",\"Black History\",\"Churches\",\"Communities\",\"First Baptist Church Of Sugar Grove\",\"Goins\",\"Lee\",\"Madison\",\"Murrell\",\"Purefoy\",\"Stuart\",\"Sugar Grove\",\"Thompson\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\\\/\",\"name\":\"First Baptist Church Of Sugar Grove - Rye Valley History\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/First-Baptist-Church-of-Sugar-Grove.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-28T04:26:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-06T17:50:25+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/First-Baptist-Church-of-Sugar-Grove.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/First-Baptist-Church-of-Sugar-Grove.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":1228},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"First Baptist Church Of Sugar Grove\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rye Valley History\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Rye Valley History\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/cropped-cropped-A-Collection-of-History-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/cropped-cropped-A-Collection-of-History-1.png\",\"width\":540,\"height\":243,\"caption\":\"Rye Valley History\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/groups\\\/162341033791855\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6308938c62392deddff1e341295e52f6\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3dfca6086c5b88a0a9e4974bce0e041c27e9da4ecb5f87c3f42b841a9f32d314?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3dfca6086c5b88a0a9e4974bce0e041c27e9da4ecb5f87c3f42b841a9f32d314?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3dfca6086c5b88a0a9e4974bce0e041c27e9da4ecb5f87c3f42b841a9f32d314?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialmogul.us\\\/RyeValleyHistory\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"First Baptist Church Of Sugar Grove - Rye Valley History","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"First Baptist Church Of Sugar Grove - Rye Valley History","og_description":"This article is being published in memory of Nancy Ann Purefoy 10\/26\/1933 &#8211; 3\/26\/2025 This beautiful little church house dates back to 1915 in the community of Sugar Grove. Records found at Smyth County Courthouse reflect March 10, 1915, a deed was made by Chaley Barber and his wife Alice to Andrew White Walter Stuart and A. F. Wilson who were both named as trustees. The sum of money exchanged to execute this deed was $30. This deed was made with specific restrictions that read &#8220;&#8230;said lot to be used for building a church house and not for any other purpose. Said church to be known as Shugar Grove Missionary Babtis Church- colored.&#8221; James Purefoy provided the following information and photo about the church on the Rye Valley History Group: This was the First Baptist Church in Sugar Grove, Va. It was the African American Church in the area.I can remember attending all day services there as a child. My mother, Nancy Lee Purefoy, attended there as a child. Her father, my grandfather, Fred Lee was a deacon there. My grandmother, Cleo Lee, was a deaconess. Some of the names of other people that attended were Barbers, Stuarts, Lees, Goins, Madisons, Thompsons, and Murrells. There were others that I cannot mention. This information was provided by my mother Nancy Lee Purefoy. Services continued at this church into the early 2000s. David Rutherford, then employed by Rye Valley Water Authority, shared the following about the property: When Rye Valley Water Authority was getting easements for new water line I traced the deeds back to try to find a signatory for the church property. Ended up getting Mrs. Cleo Lee to sign. Great Lady. The deeds referred to it being in the \u201ccolored section of Sugar Grove\u201d. The details in the deed made it sound like the area was from the church back to where Gene Ross now lives out to Flat Ridge Road and back to Quarter Branch Road. &nbsp; (2022-2024) The building collapsed under a heavy snow. The photo at left was what remained of this beautiful little church as of 2024. The church is shown on a 1935 Quadrangle map by location only, no name. Also on that same map, just down the road near the Quarter Branch and Flat Ridge Fork on the opposite side is another church labeled as &#8220;Union Ch.&#8221;\u00a0 It is speculated that this could have served as the Sugar Grove Negro School up until the early 40s. The Sugar Grove Negro School is documented by Evelyn Thompson Lawrence in a book available about all of the Colored Schools in the county that can be found in the Heritage Room at the Smyth County Public Library in Marion, VA however, it does not mention any specific location where this school was located. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; *If you have additional information to add about this church, please comment or use the contact form. We would love to add additional information.","og_url":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/","og_site_name":"Rye Valley History","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/162341033791855","article_published_time":"2025-03-28T04:26:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-06T17:50:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1228,"url":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/First-Baptist-Church-of-Sugar-Grove.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/"},"author":{"name":"Admin","@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/#\/schema\/person\/6308938c62392deddff1e341295e52f6"},"headline":"First Baptist Church Of Sugar Grove","datePublished":"2025-03-28T04:26:45+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-06T17:50:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/"},"wordCount":494,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/First-Baptist-Church-of-Sugar-Grove.jpg","keywords":["Black History","Churches","Communities","Sugar Grove"],"articleSection":["Barbers","Black History","Churches","Communities","First Baptist Church Of Sugar Grove","Goins","Lee","Madison","Murrell","Purefoy","Stuart","Sugar Grove","Thompson"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/","url":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/","name":"First Baptist Church Of Sugar Grove - Rye Valley History","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/First-Baptist-Church-of-Sugar-Grove.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-28T04:26:45+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-06T17:50:25+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/First-Baptist-Church-of-Sugar-Grove.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/First-Baptist-Church-of-Sugar-Grove.jpg","width":2048,"height":1228},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/first-baptist-church-of-sugar-grove\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"First Baptist Church Of Sugar Grove"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/#website","url":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/","name":"Rye Valley History","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/#organization","name":"Rye Valley History","url":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/cropped-cropped-A-Collection-of-History-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/cropped-cropped-A-Collection-of-History-1.png","width":540,"height":243,"caption":"Rye Valley History"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/162341033791855"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/#\/schema\/person\/6308938c62392deddff1e341295e52f6","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3dfca6086c5b88a0a9e4974bce0e041c27e9da4ecb5f87c3f42b841a9f32d314?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3dfca6086c5b88a0a9e4974bce0e041c27e9da4ecb5f87c3f42b841a9f32d314?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3dfca6086c5b88a0a9e4974bce0e041c27e9da4ecb5f87c3f42b841a9f32d314?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory"],"url":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1566"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1615,"href":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1566\/revisions\/1615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialmogul.us\/RyeValleyHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}