We woke up this morning as normal. It was a cool early Fall Day with the wind blowing. After we had breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee my wife asked me if I had anything I wanted to do today?
Now if you follow me then you know that it does not take much to get me to head out rambling. We finished our coffee and got showers and packed some stuff for a picnic style lunch and got in the Jeep and headed out.
The quest today was for the very Southeast side of Wilcox County. I had determined that I need to try to make another trip into that area and try to find a few more possibilities for photos and stories. I am trying to do as exhaustive coverage as possible of the Black Belt Region and it requires at times numerous trips into an area.
We covered several things and wound up on Hwy 10 headed East towards Greenville. When we crossed the Butler County Line, I said I will turn around at the next good place I find to get out of the road.
As we rode along, we came to a cemetery on the left (north side of Hwy 10). I slowed and turned in. I decided to look at the headstones for a minute and possibly take a few shots of the cemetery.
That is when I saw it. Sitting in the back, kind of in a corner was this beautiful old white church building. You guessed it. My phobia kicked in. The one that must take a photo of an old church. I just had to check that out.
I walked through the cemetery and captured a few shots of the various graves. One particularly interesting one was one I saw that was covered in seashells. I saw at least one that was above the ground. There were others with beautiful headstones.
I finally got to the back of the cemetery and maneuvered around and captured a few frames of that beautiful old church.
I would be afraid to guess how many times I have traveled across AL 10 in my lifetime. It is not that often, but it has been a considerable number. I am sure I have seen it before but for some reason I did not remember paying any attention to this church.
I saw the sign outside that said the name was Pine Flat Methodist and it was established in 1858.
I went on back to the Jeep and we went on our way. I pondered on this one for a while and then my mind went to other things and places as we headed on home.
When we finally got home, and I had opportunity I started to research Pine Flat Church. I found that it is indeed a Historical Black Belt Church.
The first source I found on it was the Greenville Advocate online newspaper (1). The article in the September 27, 2023, titled Pine Flat Church Celebrates 165 years jumped out at me. From that article I found that on October 1, 2023 Pine Flat held the yearly home coming event and this year was the 165thyear. This memorial event is held the first Sunday in October and has been since 1968.
The second source I found on this old church was from a site called (2) Wikimapia. It said, “In the spring of 1858, the present Pine Flat Methodist Church building was erected by the men of the community with the help of their slaves. Virgin pine trees were felled, and the timber sawed with a jigsaw at Bowen’s Mill. The boards were then hand planed.”
“The church lot was deeded by James and Martha Reynolds who lived near the site where the first house was built in Butler County; this home was erected by James K. Benson, government surveyor in 1815”.
This article goes on to say, “The church had a slave gallery extending across the front end. This gallery could be entered by stairs leading from the front porch. At morning services, the slaves sat in the gallery and in the afternoon special services were held for the slaves who sat downstairs while the white people attending sat in the gallery. When the church was repaired in 1870 the slave gallery was removed. The pews, communion rail, table, half octagon-shaped pulpit, and doors all are constructed of heart pine and are put together with square nails or wooden pegs. At first the center pews were divided with a solid partition to separate the men from the women. The one odd small bench, in the style of a colonial deacons’ bench, was one of three that were placed near the altar, and were used by those who came requesting the prayers of the congregation.”
This is truly in my opinion a historical Black Belt Church that appears to be in great condition and will hopefully be standing just as well kept for centuries to come. I salute those that are taking care of it and hope the generations that follow will do the same.
Sources:
(1) https://www.greenvilleadvocate.com/2023/09/27/pine-flat-church-celebrates-165-years/
(2) http://wikimapia.org/37239368/Pine-Flat-Methodist-Church