The Union Branch Baptist Church was established in 1865. In November 1867, at the urging of George Hughes and six other men, who were deacons of the church, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, grandson of Thomas Jefferson, gave an acre of land to the congregation to build a church and schoolhouse.  A year after the deed was gifted, the founder Rev. Robert Hughes renamed the church Union Run Baptist. The property deed was recorded in Albemarle County House, and a second acre of land is deeded to the church.

Robert Hughes was born in 1824 at Monticello. His mother, Ursula Hughes, a granddaughter of Great George and Ursula and niece of Isaac Jefferson Grange, was also born at Monticello. His father Wormley Hughes worked at Monticello as head gardener and was in charge of the stables. Along with his mother and several of his siblings, Robert lived in slavery until the end of the Civil War on the plantation of Thomas Randolph. After the war, Robert Hughes, who was a blacksmith, acquired over a hundred acres of Albemarle County land. He ministered at Union Run for three decades. He died in 1895.

About 120 years later in 1989, Rickey Eugene White became Union Run's 10th pastor. His wife, Natalie, along with their children, Candace, Courtney and Cameron became an integral part of each worship service. During Dr. White's tenure, the physical structure has expanded to include a large fully equipped kitchen, a dining room, new bathrooms, a baptismal pool, large chandeliers, pulpit furniture, a nursery and an overflow area for the main sanctuary.

As it was in the founding years, Union Run church continues to be a beacon of hope for the community.
 
 
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