Union Run Baptist Church

Soon after the Civil War, the Rev. Robert Hughes (1821-1895) and other freedmen organized Union Branch Baptist Church, later known as Union Run Baptist Church. Spiritual life was vital to formerly enslaved African Americans, and establishing churches and creating communities were of primary importance. Thomas Jefferson Randolph of Edgehill deeded one acre to the church’s deacons in 1867. The congregation purchased the Limestone Church building and re-erected it on this site, where it also served as a school. The church became a cornerstone of the community. The Rev. Hughes, pastor for three decades, was interred in the churchyard, the final resting place of hundreds of community members.