Address 41 Jones Rd, Hurdle Mills, NC 27541, USA | ||
Wheelers Primitive Baptist Church is located in southwest Person County, North Carolina. The church was formerly known as Wheeleys Meeting House and the original baptist congregation was formed in 1755. In the early part of the 1800s, many Baptists sought to separate from the Calvinist aspect of their theologist that God predestined human being to either heaven or hell. Others wanted reforms to have Sunday school, musical instruments and paid ministers. In 1832, the church passed a resolution rejecting the reforms and added 'primitive' to the church name.
Depression era photographer Dorothea Lange photographed the church in early July 1939 as part of her project with the Farm Service Administration. Before any photographs were taken, Lange had to receive the permission of the older members of the church. Because of hesitation of several members she did not photograph inside the church. She photographed the church on two occasions. First was on July 5, 1939, she photographed the ladies cleaning the church property. The second was on Sunday, July 9, 1939, where she photographed the congregation as they departed church services. The men departed from the left door and the women on the right door. Lange's work provided a glimpse of religious life in the south in the late 1930s.
The church and its cemetery sit at a small rural area known to locals simply as Wheelers. The west northwestern part of the cemetery is the oldest and contains many unmarked graves. Wheelers convenes services once a month on every second Sunday.