Grove Presbyterian Church - Kenansville, North Carolina
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 34° 57.517 W 077° 58.105
18S E 228948 N 3872479
Historic Presbyterian church in Kenansville, North Carolina.
Waymark Code: WM5W7R
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 02/19/2009
Views: 6
Grove Church hosted one of the earliest Presbyterian congregations in
North Carolina. Irishman Henry McCulloch led a group of Presbyterian immigrants
from Ireland to Duplin County no later than 1737, forming the Grove community.
The original Grove Church was built three miles southeast of the present Duplin
County courthouse, on land granted to McCulloch, whereas the present incarnation
is located on Main Street (NC 24) in Kenansville (est. 1818).
In 1755, the Presbyterian Church was thriving in North Carolina. Hugh
McAden, a missionary pastor responsible for Old Bluff Church in Cumberland
County, held services at Grove from 1757 to about 1767. Over the next four
years, however, Grove Church fell into disrepair.
A local pastor named John Robinson restored the church in 1788, soon after
Grove was incorporated into the Synod of the Carolinas, an organization of
twenty-five ministers serving forty-six churches throughout the southeast United
States. Part of the Carolina circuit, Grove Church went without a permanent
minister until Robinson assumed the duties in 1794. The church remained in use
until the middle of the nineteenth century, when church leaders approved
construction of the present church in Kenansville. Land was deeded to the church
for that purpose in 1857.
Grove Church was constructed in Greek Revival style, a large rectangular
structure resting on a slightly larger pediment. Doric pilasters are found at
every corner of the structure and bell tower, while long, neo-gothic windows
line the sides and front of the church. ~ North Carolina Historical
Marker website