Truckin' on the Western Branch

Centenary United Methodist Church Shortly after the Jolliff Methodist Society began meeting, 13 “serious souls,” as missionary Francis Asbury called them, gathered for worship in their homes near Craney Island. In 1785 they paid five shillings for a piece of land, but the church they built there was later destroyed by fire. In 1848 the church bought an adjacent lot for one dollar and built a new church they named Wesley Chapel, one of six churches then on a Methodist circuit. The members included the Ames, Wise, Wright, Grimes, and Mackie families. In 1883 the church was remodeled and renamed Centenary in celebration of its upcoming centennial. Fewer than ten years later, Centenary organized Fifth Avenue Methodist Church in West Norfolk. Centenary outgrew its buildings and property as residential growth in the Churchland area blossomed. In 1956 the church bought a six-acre tract of land on Cedar Lane and built Hardy Memorial Hall, an education building used for services until the second phase—a sanctuary, chapel, and classrooms—was finished in 1965. Stella Williamson, the church librarian, said the outgrown white frame church on Towne Point Road, next to the new overpass, is now home to Common Ground Community Church.

Stella Williamson and her sister, Betty Dail. Image by Sheally

When Williamson and her sister, Betty Dail, were growing up in the heart of Churchland, she said, “it seemed that everyone went to Centenary or Churchland Baptist. I loved the Sunday night evening services. I thought I was staying out late.”

Early 1900s Centenary United Methodist Church.

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