Johnson's Chapel, where Henry Clay Morrison preached his first sermon ca.1878

This is how Professor Nancy Richey and me spend our Sunday afternoons, walking in the footsteps of  the great Henry Clay Morrison. In 1878, Morrison, recently licensed to preach was given his first assignment to travel from Perryville Ky. , over the knobs to Casey county, along the Rolling Fork River to preach his first sermon at Johnson's Chapel. He arrived the day before spending the night at the home of State Representative William Green Johnson, who built the church in mid 1800's. Morrison wrote, "Sabbath morning I went up in the field where there was a great rock covered with bushes and grapevines, and I prayed earnestly for help. I cannot remember positively what my text was, but I had Liberty, told my experience, exhorted the people. Everybody was in tears. I went to Brother Johnson's for dinner. Someone said "Everybody in our church wept while you preached and told your experience." Coming back, Morrison preached at Sycamore Methodist Church Sunday afternoon.
    Johnson's chapel has been gone since 1984, the insert shows where the church sat. 

 A wonderful neighbor and historian, Doris Purdom points out to us the exact location of Johnson's Chapel, just behind where she and Nancy Richey stand, off of Little South Rd. Hwy 243

      The home of Rep. William Green Johnson still stands on the banks of the river, 

    Sycamore Church ( now a Church of Christ ) still stands nearby on Forkland Rd. Hwy 37

                    State Representative William Green Johnson 1824 - 1890

                                                      Wife of William Green Johnson

                Another wonderful day, in the footsteps of Rev. Henry Clay Morrison. Gary Bewley 

Painting by Gary Bewley depicting Morrison's first sermon at Johnson's Chapel.