Good Hope Settlement was one of a group of rural African American communities that was established after the civil war with the emancipation of slaves in the area.
Good Hope was organized as a community from the 1880s-1920, before outmigration, white suburban growth, and regional politics began to encroach or change the community organization and lifestyles of the residents.
Like most rural settlements houses were organized in a linear fashion along a major farm road and were settled by families who previously resided on nearby farms.
Original families included Adams, Boston, Burton, Crutchfield, Jones, Lee, Powell, Pumphrey, Singleton, Slater, Smith, Stewart, Williams and Wilson. The names of these pioneer residents are marked on the gravestones behind the church. The white landowners in Cloverly and Spencerville were the Stablers, Tysons and Watts.
Less than 100 residents settled at Good Hope. Most were employed as farm laborers, domestics and in time developed the economic stability to build their local church which became the center of life in the community.