Rhea died en route, but his family and many parishioners made Tennessee their new home.
Charles Cummings, a visiting Presbyterian from Abingdon, Virginia, encouraged the settlers to build a house of worship, which they did.
Henry Massengale/Massengill later wrote, "We hailed his coming with great joy for our souls were hungering and thirsting for spiritual nourishment.
I was to furnish logs, boards and all timbers needed to build a large house, with a section of benches in the back side for the Massengale and Cobb negroes, numbering at this time, 151 souls, so these slaves can come out and be refreshed in body and soul.
At one time, Samuel Doak left his home in the Forks Community to go to nearby Abingdon, Virginia, for supplies.
The Battle of Kings Mountain turned the tide of the Revolutionary War in the South and helped secure an American Independence.
The charter elders of the session were John Alison, James Gregg, and Francis Hodge.
Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh served the church in the 1990s and wrote an extensive history of the congregation, "A People of Faith."