Dedication held for the newly restored Reaves Chapel in Navassa

NAVASSA, NC (WWAY) — Descendants and conservationists rang in a new day for the historic Reaves Chapel in Navassa on Friday. 

Built by the formerly enslaved Gullah Geechee people between 1860 and 1880, the chapel served as a place of worship for more than 100 years. By the early 2000s, it had fallen into disrepair.  

The chapel has been undergoing renovations since 2019.  

“Today is the day that we, by the grace of God, and the generosity of so may, are able to see this dream become a reality,” Dr. Doug Cushing with the NC Rice Festival said during the ceremony. 

The dedication even garnered the attention of Governor Josh Stein, who was unable to attend—instead sending a written message to be read to the audience. 

“You have not only restored this building, but also rekindled North Carolina’s connection to its past,” Stein wrote. 

The restoration was made possible by the Coastal Land Trust, the Cedar Hill West Bank Heritage Foundation, and the North Carolina Rice Festival.  

Though, Jessica Blake with the Coastal Land Trust said the project would have never gotten off the ground without Alfonzo Beatty, who was the driving force behind the chapel’s restoration since at least 2009.  

Beatty died last month. 

“I think it’s really important for everyone to know that he got to stand in this finished structure that he spent decades trying to save for his community, he wasn’t even a member of this church, but he was a descendant of the people who built it,” Blake said. 

Blake added while the Coastal Land Trust usually focuses on ecological conservation, restoring the historic chapel was a unique opportunity. 

“It is in the area that we have spent a lot of time working on the west bank of the Cape Fear River, and this an particular structure is able to tell the story of the people that shaped the land that we have been able to conserve,” she explained. 

The dedication ceremony is a part of the NC Rice Festival which will be happening Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Brunswick Town and Fort Anderson.