"By 1770 the valley of the Nolachucky River was beginning to fill up with settlers from the Carolinas and Virginia. It was a beautiful country, interlaced with tree-bordered streams and abounding in rich and inviting soil. It was in the land of the Cherokee, but treaty after treaty had lessened the possibility of Indian raids. The land was well worth the risks involved.
Men who had served in Christian’s punitive expedition in 1776 carried the story of the land back to their firesides in Virginia and the influx into the Holston valley and beyond increased. There came the Allisons, McCorkles, Hodges, Scotts, Halls, and Houstons, to mention a few – in the caravans that wound their way down the “Great Road” to the Tennessee frontier. Some settled in the Forks of the Holston, some pressed on into the headwaters of the Nolachucky.
Following the trail of Joseph Rhea, the pioneer Presbyterian minister, came other clergymen to care for the spiritual needs of the people. The Rev. Charles Cummings, of Wolf Hills, was the first Presbyterian minister to preach on Tennessee soil. These and others served the pioneers well and laid foundations that endure. Samuel Doak was licensed by Hanover Presbytery, Oct. 13, 1777, and, at his own request, was sent to Tennessee where his abilities and zeal were recognized by the congregations of the Concord and Hopewell Churches who called him to be their pastor. He accepted and, in December 1778, he was duly ordained and installed.
After several years, Doak removed to the Little Limestone where many pioneers from Augusta County, Virginia, had made their homes and a number of kith and kin from the Shenandoah and James River valleys were joining them week after week. Mrs. Doak was the former Esther Houston, sister of John Houston and aunt of the Rev. Samuel Houston.
In 1780, Doak gathered the settlers on the Big Limestone into a congregation and many of them, cherishing memories of their beloved church back in Virginia, gave their new organization the name of Providence. That same year, he ‘set in church order’ a church near his home which he called Salem and opened a school which was to become Washington College.
After a few years, the strain of a three-fold work and the added ministerial service he endeavored to render the frontier became too much for his physical strength and Doak withdrew from the work at the Providence Church, notifying Presbytery of his action.
When Samuel Houston was licensed in October, 1782, he was directed by Presbytery “to preach the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ” and supply one Sabbath as “Mr. Doak’s former congregation” (evidently the Concord and Hopewell churches) and “three at Nola Chucky and Watauga” (undoubtedly the Providence Church). He was called to the latter the next May.
His ordination took place in Providence Church, Aug. 21, 1783. The day before, acting on a directive from Hanover Presbytery, Charles Cummings, Hezekiah Balch, and Samuel Doak formed a meeting of the Presbytery; it was the first such church court to meet on Tennessee soil. The ordination of Houston was the first service of its kind in the history of the State. This is a double distinction which Providence may claim and it places the church in a position of a Presbyterian shrine in Tennessee.
While pastor of this church, Houston became involved deeply in the State of Franklin movement, which was simply the flowering forth of the spirit of the Watauga Association. Complicated by political maneuvering in the higher circles and entangles in the mesh of divided local groups, it failed. This situation and the death of his young wife were undoubtedly the cause for his withdrawal to Virginia in 1788.
The Present church is the third building on the present site. The first was a log structure, built in 1783 before the beginning of Houston’s pastorate. It faced Mill Creek, now Carson’s Creek, and on its left grew the church cemetery. In 1849, a stone-wall was built around the graveyard and, although no mortar was used, the stones were so placed that it has stood intact for these 120 years. An extension of the burial facilities developed on the right side of the church in the passing of time, placing the church building as a silent sentinel over the dead, a custodian of a rich history and a beacon-light on the hill for the future."

By George West Diehl
The Reverend Samuel Houston V.D.M.
McClure Press, Verona VA, © 1970
Appendix C