Rocky River Presbyterian Church
Cabarrus County, Cabarrus County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Rocky River Church. Presbyterian. Founded in early 1750s. Hugh McAden preached here 1755. First regular pastor, Alexander Craighead, 1758. Present church constructed 1860.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
Established in the early 1750s, this congregation took root among the Scots-Irish Presbyterians who poured into the North Carolina backcountry along the Great Wagon Road. The traveling minister Hugh McAden preached here in 1755, and Alexander Craighead—a fiery advocate of religious and civil liberty—became its first settled pastor in 1758. The present sanctuary dates to 1860, but the community's roots reach back a century earlier.
Why it matters
Frontier Presbyterian churches like this one anchored Scots-Irish settlement of the Carolina Piedmont and nurtured the independent spirit that later fed the region's revolutionary sentiment.
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Related people
- · Hugh McAden
- · Alexander Craighead
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Original Site Rocky River Presbyterian Church
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This marker identifies the original site of Rocky River Presbyterian Church, established in the North Carolina Piedmont around 1751. Congregations like this one were founded largely by Scots-Irish settlers who streamed into the Carolina backcountry in the mid-1700s, making the Presbyterian meetinghouse a center of both faith and community life. The 1751–1776 span marks its earliest years at this location.
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