Chronology

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1. Colonial and Regulator years · 1680–1774

2. 1755
   Founding or opening · Cedar Grove Hugh McAden preaches to the Eno Presbyterian settlers

   On August 10, 1755 the missionary Hugh McAden preached at Eno to a Presbyterian community already settled near the river, southeast of present Cedar Grove; the congregation counts its beginning from these years. The settlers asked Hanover Presbytery for supply preachers in 1756, and by church tradition the congregation was formally organized during the Synod mission of 1764.

3. August 1755
   Publication, speech or performance · Orange County Hugh McAden preaches to the Eno and Hawfields settlements

   The traveling Presbyterian licentiate Hugh McAden preached to the Eno settlement on the second Sabbath of August 1755, lodging at John Anderson's house, and rode on to preach at the Hawfields on the fourth Sabbath. His journal is the earliest surviving description of either settlement.

4. 1756 (traditional date)
   Founding or opening · New Hope New Hope Presbyterian Church traces its beginning to

   New Hope Presbyterian Church, south of Hillsborough on the road to Chapel Hill, counts 1756 as its founding year, when the Hawfields and Eno Presbyterians, with whom the New Hope families then worshiped, first asked Hanover Presbytery for preachers. Its early records burned in 1827; D. I. Craig judged it was formally organized later, most likely under Henry Pattillo after his 1765 call, and it first appears with its own minister in the 1795 Orange Presbytery minutes.

5. 1765-1774
   Orange County Henry Pattillo becomes pastor of the Hawfields, Eno and Little River churches

   Henry Pattillo moved to Orange County as pastor of the Hawfields, Eno and Little River Presbyterian churches and served them for nine years, becoming known as "Father Pattillo." He was the first regularly installed minister at Eno.

6. 1774
   Closing or ending · the Hawfields Henry Pattillo leaves the Hawfields and Eno churches

   Pattillo, who came to the Hawfields and Eno churches in 1765, left in 1774. The New Hope families still belonged to the Hawfields then, and Craig believed Pattillo had organized New Hope church in its first meetinghouse.

7. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799

8. about 1775
   Appointment, election or service · New Hope John DeBow takes the Hawfields and Eno charge and preaches at New Hope

   DeBow, a young minister, succeeded Pattillo at the Hawfields and Eno about 1775 and preached at New Hope as he could. Craig calls him probably the first preacher with anything like a regular appointment there.

9. 1790
   Closing or ending · New Hope Jacob Lake ends his ministry to New Hope

   Lake followed DeBow and served New Hope with the Hawfields and Eno churches in the same way until 1790. He left Orange Presbytery in 1794 after about ten years in it.

10. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899

11. April 1, 1893
    Disaster or outbreak · Cedar Grove area Forest fire destroys Eno Presbyterian Church

    Wind-driven woods fires on Saturday, April 1, 1893 burned the Eno Presbyterian church and its session house at the old site near the river. The loss preceded the congregation's move to Cedar Grove, where it built again in 1897 to 1899.

12. 1897–1899
    Construction or physical change · Cedar Grove Eno Presbyterian builds at Cedar Grove

    The replacement church was constructed over three years.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 1, 2026.