Spring Bayou Baptist Church
McCracken County, McCracken County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Spring Bayou Baptist Church. Organized Jan. 14, 1843 as Newton's Creek Church with fifteen charter members. Elder Henry Richardson was first pastor and served 1843-46. Church attained present name in 1847, after site chosen for first house of worship. Next church built 1853; third, 1870. Cemetery established ca. 1895. Present building dedicated Aug. 20, 1967. Presented by Spring Bayou Baptist Church.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
Founded on January 14, 1843, as Newton's Creek Church with fifteen charter members and Elder Henry Richardson as its first pastor, this congregation took the name Spring Bayou in 1847 after choosing the site of its first meeting house. Successive buildings rose in 1853 and 1870, a cemetery was laid out around 1895, and the present sanctuary was dedicated in 1967. The church traces more than a century and a quarter of continuous worship in rural McCracken County.
Why it matters
Long-lived rural congregations like this one anchored community life across the antebellum and postwar South, their meeting houses and burying grounds serving as social as well as spiritual centers.
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Related people
- · Henry Richardson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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