Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a two-part series on local church history. Read part I of the series HERE.
BY SHELLIE TAYLOR
Following my article on the first Presbyterian churches in Iredell County, this column will focus on the arrival and growth of the Methodist and Baptist churches. The first two churches of these denominations to be formed in Iredell County were established at the end of the 18th century. Grassy Knob Baptist was formed in 1789 and Mt. Bethel Methodist was formed in 1797.
Grassy Knob Baptist formed as the first Baptist church in Iredell County, which had only been established as a county the year before. The congregational community resided at the foot of Grassy Knob Mountain, which lent its name to the church. Early church records indicate that although the Presbyterians and Methodists kept more thorough and legible records than the Baptists, the Baptists did not shy away from extolling disciplinary actions against sinful churchgoers. In 1811, a parishioner was “excluded from our fellowship” for beating a Black woman “disagreeable to law.” In 1816, a woman was dismissed for committing adultery. Other members were listed as excluded in the membership rolls of the 1890s for various offenses, including bastardy, swearing, and drunkenness. Despite the fact that all denominations frowned upon sin, the Baptists seemed more prominent in punishing and excluding their members and making sure it was in their written records.
Mt. Bethel began as Basil Prather’s Meeting House in 1797 and was visited by Bishop Francis Asbury in 1799. Asbury was a traveling Methodist minister whose journeys are well documented in his diaries. It has been claimed that he was the first and greatest bishop of American Methodism. He made several visits to North Carolina between 1780 and 1816. He specifically came to Basil Prather’s chapel on Tuesday, October 12, 1799, and preached on the “ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” The earliest churches to be organized out of the Mt. Bethel congregation were Macedonia in the Williamsburg community and Clarksbury, which was once known as Irvin’s Meeting House. It was very common for these early churches to be referred to as “meeting houses” or “brush arbors” because those terms best described how the congregations were meeting prior to erecting a formal building structure for worship. Most churches started under the natural canopy of trees or at the home of a church leader.
The Great Revival of 1801-1802 resulted in an explosion of Methodist and Baptist churches in Iredell County, specifically in the rural regions where people had to travel far to attend services. The Bruce family was responsible for the establishment of two of the earliest Methodist churches of the 19th century. Snow Creek was started in 1801 on land owned by William Sharpe as part of a new Methodist Society initiated by Philip Bruce. The cemetery at the church predates the congregation. In 1780, a young man was buried there who died of a rattlesnake bite. High rain waters made it impossible to bury him at the closest church. It made sense to erect a building for Snow Creek beside this property where the community was already burying people. The second church started by Philip Bruce’s society was Pisgah Methodist. The original building was located in what is now Alexander County. The first structure burned around 1840 and was rebuilt a few miles away near its current location in Iredell County. The church has hosted congregants from both counties since the formation of Alexander County in 1847.
Two other early Methodist congregations were located in what is now Alexander County but was still part of Iredell at their inception. Hopewell Church was another group that formed around an already existing community cemetery in 1808. The cemetery predated and outlasted the church. It still stands on Hopewell Church Road and features some of the largest obelisk monuments in Alexander County. Mt. Pleasant Church was started by Ethelred Ellis, a traveling Methodist minister, in 1820 near what is now the Iredell-Alexander county line. The cemetery for this church is located on Smith Farm Road and was an active burial ground until the 1880s, although the church moved in the 1860s and changed its name to Stony Point Methodist. Some of the earliest church members and community leaders of what became Stony Point are buried here.
After Grassy Knob, New Hope Baptist was the second Baptist congregation to form in the county in 1802. Most of the charter members were inhabitants who migrated from Maryland and settled in the area between Cool Springs and Turnersburg. The old Lewis Graveyard is located a few miles south of the church and was the final resting place for many of the original settlers prior to the establishment of New Hope due to the fact that Fourth Creek Burying Ground was too far to travel.
The end of the Antebellum Era was marked by another revival around the 1840s which resulted in more churches, specifically Baptist, in the rural parts of the county. Churches that formed out of this latest evolution included Sandy Springs (1840), Holly Springs (1847), Taylor Springs (1852), New Prospect (1855), and Bethel Baptist (1860). Bethel Baptist was formed in the Eufola community and was a result of Iredell residents not wanting to travel over the Catawba River to attend services. Bethel formed out of Olivet Baptist, a still active church in present-day Catawba County.
Following the Civil War, there was a split in doctrine among the churches, particularly the Methodists. The Methodist Episcopal and the Methodist Protestants began to create a greater divide in thought and ideology amongst the once steady denomination, with the hottest topic being slavery. This split resulted in new churches throughout the county. Many of the anti-slavery congregations had their roots in Quakerism.
African-American churches also emerged, especially in the towns of Statesville and Mooresville. The African Methodist Episcopal denomination (AME) grew in popularity, the odlest of which in Statesville is Mt. Pleasant or Center Street AME Zion. Formed in 1869, the present building was erected in 1903 and is the only African-American landmark on the National Register of Historic Places in Iredell County. Morrow’s Chapel in Mooresville (1872) and Scotts Chapel in Statesville (1885) are two example of early Black Methodist town churches. The Baptist church was also established for African-Americans throughout the towns. Emmaus (First Baptist) in Statesville and St. James Baptist in Troutman off Perth Road were both formed in 1874. The now abandoned cemetery of Summerville Baptist Church lies in the New Hope Township and may have been started in the 1880s around an already existing slave cemetery. Clark’s Chapel Baptist in the Eufola community began around 1885 and today proudly hosts the largest predominately Black congregation in Iredell County.
After the turn of the century, Statesville, like many other Southern towns at the time, saw an increase in mills and factories. Following the rise of industry came an influx in people moving to the towns that provided work at these factories. These residents formed what can be called “industrial congregations.” Some of the earliest examples of these churches are Western Avenue Baptist (1901), Race Street Methodist (1906), Midway UMC in Stony Point (1911), Southside Baptist in Mooresville (1912), and Diamond Hill Baptist (1926).
Many of the churches I’ve mentioned, most in fact, are still active and boast of a long, rich history in Iredell County. Many members are descendants of charter members. We invite you to visit the Local History Room and peruse our church files for further information.
Shellie Taylor is the Local History Program Specialist at the Iredell County Public Library. She can be contacted at michelle.taylor@co.iredell.nc.us or 704-878-3090, Ext. 8801.
Sources
Asbury, Francis, Ed. Carroll, Grady L.E. (1964). Francis Asbury in North Carolina. Parthenon Press. Nashville, Tenn.
Grassy Knob Baptist Church. (1801-1951). Typescript of history, membership, and clerk records. Iredell County Public Library Microfilm Collection. https://lfweb.co.iredell.nc.us/icpl/DocView.aspx?id=190&dbid=0&repo=Iredell-County-Library Accessed 4/17/2023.
Keever, H. (1976). Iredell, Piedmont County. Brady Printing Company.