Before the settlement of white and black folk on Upper Hammonds Plains, there were the Mi’kmaq First Nation People. They were here hundreds of years before any other group of people discovered the land. (Contexture International | http://www.contextureintl.com, n.d.) mentions that by the middle of the seventeenth century, most of the Mi’kmaq First Nation People in that area had succumbed to the diseases brought by the invading Europeans. Like most historical places in Nova Scotia the people here also desired to have a place to practice their religion. According to (Contexture International | http://www.contextureintl.com, n.d.) in the year 1820 Father Burton founded the Hammond Plains Second Baptists Church. Its existence was quite significant since most of the members of this church were people of color. This wasn’t the only church in the area, in the year 1845 Rev. Richard Preston established a separate church. The name was The Hammonds Plains Baptists Church it can also be identified as the Emmanuel Baptists Church (Contexture International | http://www.contextureintl.com, n.d.) mentions that the reason for the second church was that in Father Burtons church there were many problems such as dissensions, abuse of power and racial tension. Rev.Richard Preston decided to separate from the church, and he went on to make his own church. Preston went on to establish 11 more churches in Nova Scotia.
Reference
Contexture International | http://www.contextureintl.com, D. B. (n.d.). History of Hammonds Plains | hammondsplainshistoricalsociety.ca. History of Hammonds Plains | hammondsplainshistoricalsociety.ca. https://www.hammondsplainshistoricalsociety.ca/history-of-hammonds-plains/
Images courtesy of Nova Scotia Archives: (https://archives.novascotia.ca/africanns/)
“Group of women (and one man) dressed for choir practice at Emmanuel Baptist Church, Upper Hammonds Plains”
“Emmanuel Baptist Church, Upper Hammonds Plains”
“Petition of black residents of Hammonds Plains for assistance to build a church”
Descriptions by Charles Stevenson and Graham Nickerson
