Cherokee Chapel Holiness Methodist Church

We would like to honor the late Mr. Luther Oxendine and his wife, Mrs. Susan Lowery Oxendine for providing the land of what is known as Cherokee Chapel Holiness Methodist Church. Mr. Luther Oxendine was the son of Mr. Charles W. Oxendine and Mrs. Nancy Mariah Oxendine, and Mrs. Susan Lowery Oxendine was the daughter of Mr. Calvin Lowery and Mrs. Mariah Sampson. She was also the grand daughter of Mr. Henry and Mrs. Nancy Sampson, the first Sampson family to live in Robeson County, and the niece of the legendary Henry Berry Lowery. Rev. F.R. Lowery was assigned to the new mission point near Wakulla at the Annual Conference held in 1912. That year, in his report as Conference Missionary, he reported that he had preached “last spring" at the school house above Wakulla, N.C. He reported that there was a good congregation every Sunday. Again, in 1913, he reported that the Mission Point of Wakulla was progressive, and that a glorious revival had been held. In 1914, the church was organized on a plot of land under a "Brush Arbor" which was named Wakulla Mission. The mission was approximately 30 feet long and 10 feet wide. The first service held was the Fall revival around Mid-October when the crops had been harvested. It was surely a time for worshipping God and giving Him thanks for His "boundless love". As revealed to us from church records, we see approximately 35 to 40 adults and children in attendance at this first meeting of God's Church. The offering collected was approximately $2.50. Mr. & Mrs. Oxendine realized that the Indian people of the Wakulla Community needed a church where our people could gather themselves in one band of Christian Love to praise God through songs and Bible's Readings.