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12 <br /> the help of his slave master's son and kept up correspondence with an acquaintance in <br /> Liberia.10 <br /> After purchasing the land, the congregation built a log chapel and began hosting services <br /> inside. The church's first pastor was Reverend Sandy Aikens. Services were held once a <br /> month, as circuit ministers rotated between local AME churches. In 1901, the <br /> congregation constructed a new frame chapel building." In 1912, they purchased an <br /> additional acre of land adjacent to the church site from E.C. Thompson.12 It is likely that <br /> this purchase was made to formalize their ownership of the existing cemetery where <br /> burials had already been taking place, given the date of this deed. <br /> The original church was located on a small spur road off a public road, as illustrated on a <br /> c. 1910 Orange County postal map as part of Rural Delivery Route Number 4 and is more <br /> clearly shown on the 1918 Soil Map of Orange County (Photo 23).13 Census data and <br /> ruins of chimneys and cellars nearby indicate that the area was home to several small <br /> farms and homesteads in addition to the church in the early 20th century14. Several <br /> members of the congregation owned land nearby during early years of the church, while <br /> many walked or travelled by wagon from several miles away in Hillsborough or Efland. <br /> In the late 1920s, after Orange County transitioned to a new system of road maintenance, <br /> the road on which the church was located gradually fell into a state of disrepair. <br /> Up until the 1910s, roads in the county were maintained by teams of local landowners <br /> organized by publicly appointed supervisors. In 1912, Orange County joined the fervor of <br /> the "Good.Roads Movement" sweeping the rural south, passing an act to raise funds for a <br /> new system of road maintenance that employed professional engineers and convict labor. <br /> The next two decades brought massive change to the entire state's road system. The State <br /> Highway Commission was formed in 1915, and in 1931 its authority was expanded to <br /> include all rural roads. While this infrastructural reform movement brought higher quality <br /> to Interview with Harold Russell, 10/21/2016. <br /> 11 Interview with Harold Russell, 10/21/2016. <br /> 12 Orange County Deed Book 65, Page 448. <br /> 13 United States Post Office Department. "Rural Delivery Routes, Orange County N.C." <br /> Online at: https://dc.Iib.unc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/nemaps/id/6666/rec/21, <br /> accessed 1/31/2019. The road and church are most distinctly shown on the 1918 Soil Map <br /> of Orange County: Soil Map, North Carolina, Orange County sheet," 1918. State <br /> Archives call number MC.073.1918v. Online at: https://web.lib.unc.edu/nc- <br /> maps/interactive/MC_073_1918v.php <br /> 14 1910 US Census, Orange County,North Carolina, Cheeks Township, Pages 9A-913. <br /> 6 <br />