Wilson County Black History Committee

This program is intended for the total and complete restoration of Pickett Chapel, a former Methodist church which was built in 1827 by African Americans slaves for one of the earliest Methodist white congregations in Lebanon, Tennessee. As likely the oldest standing red brick building in Wilson County, freed blacks purchased the church in 1866 for worship until relocation in 1973 to another hall. Pickett Chapel became a community theater during the 1970s for the Chapel Players. Under a Strategic Plan to be finalized by 2020, Pickett Chapel will operate as a arts, history, and cultural center for special events, programs, and displays for the Roy Bailey African American History Center & Museum.

The Pickett Chapel Archaeological Project will tell the story of the people who worshipped at Pickett Chapel from the time of its construction in the 1827 through its last services in 1973, and the grounds in the history of Lebanon from the pre-Civil War to the post-Civil Rights eras. This will be documented through primary archival sources, excavations, county and city records, oral histories, and interviews. The site of Pickett Chapel represents the only undisturbed location with both architecture and archaeology from the original town plots. This excavations at Pickett Chapel began in 2013, and artifacts have been found from the 1800s. Supporting materials from 1900 to 1930 from the Nashville Globe newspaper for African Americans and denominational data from the Central Conference for the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church are also important to the research.