New Hope A. M. E. Church is located just down the street from New Hope Methodist Church. The two were built around the same time and have strikingly similar architecture.

The following abridged history is from an entry entitled “New Hope Methodist Church: County’s Oldest Church” in Smithville Georgia: A Glimpse of the Past (1976): “One of the first Methodist Churches in Lee County was organized in 1853, for the slaves. It was some two miles west of the later site of Smithville. First a brush arbor was erected to hold their services in, then they built a small log cabin church and in 1868, this building was destroyed by fire. Leaders of that project were H. M. Mitchell, Sr. and P. J. Griffin. It was…used for school purposes, being the first school for Negroes in this area.

The old building became dilapidated and the membership increased until it was necessary to start the third one in 1923. It was started by Rev. E. A. Clark and was finished by Rev. S. Fields. In September, 1949, that building was also destroyed by fire. The present building was started in 1950.