South Newport Baptist Church began as a congregation organized by the Rev. Charles O. Screven at Harris Neck, 7 miles west of this site, during the early 1800’s. As Harris Neck Baptist Church, it was admitted to the Sunbury Baptist Association on November 12, 1824. In the early 1830’s, the church moved to this site and became South Newport Baptist Church. On December 9, 1841, South Newport Baptist Church was chartered, and the trustees named were Charles W. Thorpe, Gideon B. Dean, Thomas K. Gould, William J. Cannon, and Henry J. White. The present edifice is the second erected on this site.