Pickett Chapel Restoration and Transformation to the Wilson County Black History Museum

Located one block off the Lebanon town square at 209 East Market Street, the chapel was built by enslaved African people in 1827. This chapel served the white First Methodist Congregation until 1856 when they outgrew the chapel and moved to a larger facility. In 1866 formerly enslaved Africans purchased and worshiped there for over a century until they too, outgrew the building and moved to a new church. During the Civil Rights Movement community meetings were held to educate the African American community in Lebanon on the tenets of non-violence.

For two decades it served as a community theatre and then fell into disrepair and was slated for demolition. In January of 2007 six Wilson County Black History Committee members mortgaged their homes and bought the chapel with the dream of preserving it and transforming it into a Black History Museum.

Now both congregations, still strong and vibrant, have come together through the Wilson County Black History Committee to realize this dream. Since 2006 work has been slowly moving ahead. Now the mortgage has been retired, a collapsed wall and brickwork have been repaired, a new roof installed, the cupola was restored, the brick entrance was restored and new front doors and windows installed. An addition is being competed that will house support spaces for the one-room chapel.

But there is more to be done to open the new Wilson County Black History Museum. The interior of the chapel has to be restored and exhibits designed and built. As the architect for this project Cyril has been working with the committee on not only architecture but strategy for completing this project.