Monroe County, Alabama's 'Prayer Log' is impressive sight to see

The Prayer Log in Monroe County, Alabama.

Earlier this month, my friend Fred Kelley wrote an interesting story for The Journal about the Prayer Log behind the New Home Primitive Baptist Church on Experiment Farm Road. Prior to its recent move to this site, the Prayer Log, sometimes called “Johnson’s Log,” was located off of County Road 42, north of Monroeville. Founded in 1976 by the Rev. Kenneth Johnson, it became a place where people would bring stones as symbols of their burdens and place them on a fallen log that served as a natural altar.

Over the years, I’ve heard many people talk about the Prayer Log and their experiences there. I also remember the Prayer Log being written about by Journal columnist George Thomas Jones and Mobile Press-Register reporter Connie Baggett. Everyone I ever heard talk about it said it was a special place and was an impressive sight to see.

Regrettably, I never saw the Prayer Log in its original location. A couple of times while out riding around, I made unsuccessful attempts to find it on my own. Other times, I was unable to find a guide or anyone who could give me good directions on how to get there.

With that in mind last Thursday, I decided to ride out to the church at New Home to see the Prayer Log for myself. I arrived at the church to find signs directing visitors to the Prayer Log, and I was able to find it with no problem. To say that I was impressed would be an understatement.

The sunshine was bright and the air was cool for a late September afternoon. The birds were singing their hearts out and several squirrels scattered as I made my way to the Prayer Log. No one else was around, and I got the sense that I was entering a special place.

I did bring a rock, a large piece of discarded flint that a friend told me had been knapped off by a long-dead Indian making spearpoints. I knelt, placed the stone on the log and bowed my head. I then got up, knees popping, and headed back to my truck.

Before returning to Monroeville, I did take a few minutes to explore the large cemetery near the church. Just eyeballing it, I’d say this cemetery contains at least 500 graves, maybe 600. The oldest grave that I saw belongs to G.C. Hanes, who died in 1876, one hundred years before the Prayer Log was established in its original location.

One of the more remarkable graves you will find there belongs to Elijah Byrd Jenkins. Jenkins was born in Wilcox County in 1842 and when the War Between the States kicked off, the 19-year-old enlisted in an artillery unit. A year or so later, he joined the Confederate Navy and was serving aboard the CSS Selma when it was captured during the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864.

After the capture of the CSS Selma, Jenkins was imprisoned on Ship Island, a barrier island on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Sources say that Jenkins spent eight months as a federal prisoner before being released at the end of the war. Jenkins lived to the ripe old age of 87 before passing away in 1929, and sources say that he is the only known Confederate Navy sailor buried in all of Monroe County.

In the end, if you ever get a chance to visit the Prayer Log, don’t wait years and years like I did. If you do go, be respectful of your surroundings and leave things like you found them. No doubt this is a special place, and it’s up to us to help it remain so.