Abandoned Churches Archives - Jackson's Ramblings

October 26, 2023October 26, 2023

Adams Grove Presbyterian Church

We all have things on our bucket list. For some folks the list is actually a real list and for others it is just something that they keep in the back of their minds. I am kind of that way. I don’t actually have a list made out that I follow but, I do have a lot of things that I want to see and do.

One of those things was to take a photograph of the Adams Grove Presbyterian Church at Sardis, Alabama.

I honestly don’t know the first time I saw a photo of it, but it was years ago. For some reason I have wanted to capture a photo of it ever since. Now you might ask why? I honestly do not know why it has stayed on my mind so long.

I have passed through Sardis several times over the years but for some reason I was in too big of hurry. Other times I would totally for some reason forget about it till it was too late to try to figure out where it was located.

On a recent trip to the Dallas/Lowndes County area taking photos and doing research I was in Selma. I had come across Hwy 80 from Prairie Creek Campground where my wife and I had our camper parked. I thought about it and this time it would not leave my mind, so I told my wife that this time I was going to find it before I went back to Prairie Creek for the night.

We drove down to Sardis, and I typed it in the map, and it popped up. I proceeded to follow the directions to get to it. I drove up and pulled to the side of the rode and as silly as it might sound to some I just stood there in the edge of the road in awe. Now if you are not addicted to taking photos of historical buildings that might sound crazy to you. However, for me it makes my mind go to racing.

Like I have done so many times before when seeing something like Adams Grove my mind went into overdrive. As I stood there, I started to picture in my mind what it looked like when it was new. I looked at what I could see from the road. As I stood there, I started to focus on what I could see of the interior. Obviously from the road I could only see a small amount, but it was enough.

I could picture it as it appeared in the 1860’s. I had read that it was constructed mainly in 1853 and somewhere in the back of my mind I thought that I had read it was finished in early 1854. (Researching later I did not find a date of 1854 so I guess that was just a dream.)

I captured a few frames of it and proceeded back to the Jeep where my wife and Taffy our little dog were waiting patiently for me.

Riding on I was focusing on driving and the church. Pondering on what I had read up on it and what I saw. I had read that there were four different entrances. One for the women, which I assumed from past stories on others of the same time frame was the left front. One for the men which I assumed from the same sources was the right one. Then there were two side entrances for slaves to enter and they sat in the balcony. I have never heard any sources say whether the man and women slaves entered different doors.

All of the sources I have seen said that it was of an Antebellum Greek Revival Styled Architecture.

As I said earlier, something about it just captivates my mind when I think about it. The time and expense involved in building it. I can see the men, women, and children in my imagination going and coming. I can see the horses and carriages bringing people. Probably some lived close enough as in most cases with many churches of that era to walk to church without a horse or carriage.

Then as I always seem to move forward in time in my mind I can for whatever reason imagine that there were cars. First Model T’s and then newer and more modern cars.

From the best understanding I can find the last services were held there in 1974 and it was added to the Historic Registry in 1986. It is now privately owned.

This is just one more treasure that is slowly slipping into time and decay. In my opinion it would take an immense amount to restore it but it would be incredible to see it restored to its former glory once again.

This is truly one of many Black Belt treasures that I have been fortunate enough to get to see and hopefully one of many more left for me to find and photograph.

June 26, 2023November 27, 2023

Cane Creek Methodist Church

History is an incredible thing. Many of us take it personally to know all that there is to know about those things from our past.

Up till probably a year ago I did not know that Cane Creek Methodist Church at Chance Al existed, or should I say did not remember it existed.

Now in years past I had been to that part of the world and had ridden numerous back roads in and around it. I am sure that I had at some time passed it probably just oblivious to it. I am sure that I had seen it in fact but for whatever reason it never stuck.

About that time, I ran across a distant cousin of mine on Social Media and we were talking about our relatives from the past. Her grandfather and my grandmother were brother and sister.

Knowing that I rambled backroads taking photos of old churches and such she asked me if I possibly had any photos of the Old Cane Creek Methodist Church. At that point it clicked.

My Grandmother Ruby Bradford Knight was born in that part of the world in 1908. She had told me many stories of her early childhood living in that area. Now I can’t tell you for sure that she ever mentioned Cane Creek Methodist Church, but her family apparently were Methodist or she identified as Methodist although she never went to church that I knew of.

My great-grandmother and my grandmother’s brothers and sisters left the Chance area when my grandmother was 8 years old. That would have been 1816 apparently. She never mentioned the month or season of the year that I can remember anyway. Not totally sure of the circumstances under which they left.

They were according to her version of the story traveling with an oxcart hauling their possessions that they brought with them. Their destination was Vredenburgh, Al. I have heard her recap numerous times the fact that they traveled to the ferry which apparently would have been at Lower Peachtree.

One interesting thing about the story is that they spent the night at what was known as the King Plantation Mansion. This was a large Antebellum house that stood in that area. In the 1960’s it was dismantled and moved to Uriah, Al where it stands to this date. They spent the night there at the end of their first day of travel. They then left early and crossed the ferry with the oxcart.

She never mentioned, that I remember hearing how long it took them to get to Vredenburgh. I would think that they would have had to spend one more night between the ferry and Vredenburgh but I do not know for sure.

Anyway, back to Cane Creek Methodist Church. I am sure that there is a rich history of this old church as there is for most of the ones build throughout the US in the late 1800’s. From the design of it I would venture to say it was probably built mid to late 1800’s but that is only a guess.

At the time of this writing I have not found anybody that has that history and I can only hope that possibly somebody reading this will come forward and give me that information because I would love to have it and possibly even write another blog post on it.

Like I mentioned earlier my cousin mentioned me getting a picture of it. So, I went and found it and got a few photos of it. The day I went there was logging equipment parked all around it where a logging crew was cutting timber there, so it was hard to get good shots of it but I was able to get a few.

I had been planning to make a trip back into that part of the world in the not-too-distant future to get some more pictures of it. Hopefully this time there would be nothing around to interfere with good angles.

About a week ago I saw some photos on social media of it. I was shocked. A storm had come through and it had been blown off the blocks and severely damaged. I knew then that I had to go through and get some shots of it before it was gone.

This particular morning, I got up and headed out to Chance.

I rounded the curve and saw it and it hurt me to see it. I pulled up and got my camera out and walked to various angles and took a few shots of it.

As I stood there pondering over the dilemma that was present for this old church my mind went back in time.

I started to think of all of the families and friends that had been there many years ago. I could visualize the men, women, boys, and girls coming and going. First, they would have come probably on wagons or riding horses. Possibly with Oxcarts or mules pulling them. Then I started to think, wonder when the first cars possibly came?

As I walked to a different angle I started to think about the dinners on the ground. I pictured in my mind an outdoor table with fried chicken, and vegetables, and biscuits, and cornbread. I almost giggled as I pictured a washtub with sweet tea in it and a dipper to fill the glasses.

As I walked back to the Jeep to get ready to leave, I started to focus my mind back to reality. This might be the last time I would ever see this old church. It was definitely the best condition, as bad is it was, that I would ever see it in.

Like so many others here is one more that is about to be gone forever. A place that was community. A place where fellowship occurred. Where couples met. Where they were married. Where children were dedicated. A place of refuge. A place that was once held of high prominence that was now a fast-fading memory that the future generations would not even know existed.

It was a sad day that unfortunately for myself and many others like myself I will see played out hundreds of times in the future as I see old churches like this one that are slowly but surely being reclaimed by the earth back to the ground to be remembered no more.

July 11, 2022July 23, 2022

Pilgram Rest Baptist Church

Located in the Red Hills of Northern Monroe County Al

Located in the Red Hills of Northern Monroe County Alabama, beside a remote red dirt road sits a crumbling old church. It has been a curiosity for many people for many years.

No one seems to be able to find out anything about this church. Many have asked on social media forums and other places. However for some reason nobody seems to have had any information on it. Nobody even seemed to know the proper name of it.

It has been dubbed names like Old Red Hills Church because it is in the Old Red Hills. Other places it has been called Locke Hill church because of the famous Locke Hill that is in the area of the old church. I am sure that there are other names attributed to it by various other people as well.This old church has been the subject of many photographs over the years of wanders who saw it and were enthralled with it. It is just sitting there.

Being from Monroe County and a natural wander I have passed it many times over the years and I have asked many times if anybody knew anything about it. Always I came up with nothing.

In May of 2020 I shot a drone video of it and it drew attention from several people who started to aske more questions. Shortly afterwards I learned from a relative at Beatrice, Al. that there was a guy that came in his place of business that had actually attended church there.

Covid hit. Everything was locked down. Nobody was visiting. I put it all on a back burner and started pursuing other interests.

Two years later I finally got back on track on this old church and was able to find the guy who knew.

The following is the information he was able to share with me. The Proper name for the church to start with is Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church. The man’s name is Irving Long. Irving agreed to meet me at the old church and share with me memories of this old and for most of civilization forgotten church.

He said that originally the congregation had a church over beside the Red Hills Cemetery. This was long before he was born. The original church burned and the congregation moved over to the present location and built the existing church.

He said he was not totally sure of dates and records had been lost over the years but in September 1927 there was an incident where the Sherriff came to arrest a man and they got into a fight. There was another man at the church that tried to break the fight up and the Sheriff shot him and he died as a result of the gun shot. The man shot was named Will Riley. His wife’s name was Fannie. He went on to say that Will’s wife sewed the hole in Will’s shirt up with a needle and thread and they buried him in the same shirt.

He showed me the out house that still stands on the right hand side and laughed and said that was the ladies restroom. The men’s was on the other side.

He motioned over to the other side and said that one time there was another building there that served as a school and also a Masonic Lodge.

As we stood and talked he told me many things that resonated with me giving me a feeling of how it was back in the day.

He said that his father had told him that back in the hey days of the church that there was a community there as large as the town of Beatrice.

One thing he shared was that for many years there was a revival there starting the 4^th Sunday in September of every year. He went on to say that the crowds would be incredibly huge for the size of the building. People would come from all over and many from out of town that had moved away would return. There would even be folks that had moved up north to places like Chicago that would come back.

He laughed and said that his grand gather always called the place “The Holy Ghost Headquarters”.

We walked around to the back of the church and went in through a side door. As we walked in Irving shared that the back room we were in was where they always had food on that 4^th Sunday. He said the food would be incredible. The women would stay at times up all night that Saturday night preparing food for the Sunday meal. There were long tables around the walls and then across the back outside there are still posts against the building that held another long table where people ate.

There was a very small room on the side right behind the pulpit that was the pastor’s study.

Over to the side of the wall is nails in the wall that the men would hang their coats and hats on.

Standing on the platform where the pulpit facing the back Irving said the men sat on the right and the women sat on the left.

Then as we walked across the wooden floor. My guide stopped and smiled again. He said this old floor was incredible. Never heard anything like it in my life. All of the people would be singing and they would be tapping on the floor with their feet and the sound would be in time with the music.

As we went back outside and stood and I listed as he shared he told of how hard it was to have a church out there in the middle of nowhere in the latter days. Vandals and thieves were incredible. It got to a point that they could not keep anything. The stole the heaters out of the church and even the propane tank. He said that it got so bad that they had to take the heaters home after church and bring them back early the next time they were to have church early the morning of the service to keep them from being stolen. He did say that for some reason nobody ever took the bell. It was in one of the towers on the front of the church for many years. Now it has been taken out and placed in a safe undisclosed location.

The church used Flat Creek to do baptisms, and burials were in the cemetery at Red Hills Cemetery.

Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church held services till sometime in the early 1990’s.

During the 1970’s and 80’s the congregation got down to the point that that there would be 18 to 20 people in attendance and then it dwindled to nothing and they closed the doors.

The last pastor to preach at Pilgrim Rest was Rev. Jessie Andrews.

Some of the long time members were Woodrow Nettles, Amos Nobles, Charlie Johnson, Ollie Nettles, and Lorenzo Nettles.

As for the future. Irving says that slowly but surely he is cleaning up there and hopes to one day have something back on the property once again. Possibly a shed or something for people to gather from time to time and use the property for future generations.

I would like to personally thank Irving one more time for taking his time to meet me out in those woods and share with me about this grand old place that has been the focus of wonder for so many years by so many people.