Historical marker describes one of Monroe County's oldest churches

Indian Springs Baptist Church Historical Marker.

This week’s featured historical marker is the “Indian Springs Baptist Church” marker in northern Monroe County, Ala. The marker is located on the east side of State Highway 21, between the McWilliams community and the Town of Beatrice.

This historical marker was erected by the Alabama Historical Association in 2003. One thing that makes this marker unique is that it also includes a photo of the sanctuary, which is located about 1-1/2 miles up Indian Springs Road from the marker. There’s text on both sides of this marker, but both sides are identical. What follows is the complete text from the marker.

----- 0 -----

“INDIAN SPRINGS BAPTIST CHURCH: This sanctuary was built one mile west of this site about 1825 near springs used by local Indians. The original wood-frame building survived virtually unchanged, with no modern conveniences. An Indian Springs petitionary letter was presented to the Bethlehem Baptist Association, meeting in Monroe County, by L.W. Lindsay and A. Curry on 26 September 1834. The petition was cordially received by the association.

“The newly constituted church had 22 charter members and held Sabbath meetings on third Sundays. Baptisms were held in the springs nearby which gave the church its name. For more than a century the modest church was an inspiration as our ancestors brought forth the earth’s bounty, worshiped God and led lives of quiet dignity.

“Listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on 26 June 2003.”

----- 0 -----

If you’d like to see this church for yourself, go to the marker then look across State Highway 21, where you’ll see a dirt road leading off to the west. This is Indian Springs Road. If you take this road and continue down about 1-1/2 miles, you’ll see the old church sanctuary. The GPS coordinates for the church are N 31.79177, W 087.11777.

I have to admit that I’ve never been to the actual church itself, but it’s a place that I’ve always wanted to visit. On the day that I snapped the picture above, it had rained heavy the week before, so I didn’t venture up the dirt road because I didn’t want to run the risk of getting stuck. The road looked to be in good shape, but who knows how it looked around the bend.

From what I understand, there is a sizeable cemetery at this old church and it does contain Civil War graves. Again, I’ve never seen it for myself, so I’m not 100 percent sure how many graves this cemetery contains, but I’ve heard it’s worth going to see. Since I didn’t go see it the other day, I’m going to put a trip to this old church on my bucket list for next year and make the trip back up the church to see it for myself.

In the end, visit this site next Wednesday to learn about another historical marker. I’m also taking suggestions from the reading audience, so if you know of an interesting historical marker that you’d like me to feature, let me know in the comments section below.