Benevolence Baptist Church was formed in 1840 in the Benevolence Community of Randolph County, Georgia. The first structure was built in 1842. The current Gothic Revival church was built in 1906.
The Pineville Baptist Church congregation was founded in 1835. The Spanish moss is an unexpected find this far inland.
Originally named the First Colored Baptist Church, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was founded in 1873. The first church building was at the intersection of 12th Street North and 4th Avenue. The congregation moved to its current location in 1880.
This is the second building at this location. The City of Birmingham condemned the first building, so the church leaders turned to Alabama’s only Black architect, Wallace Rayfield, to design the current building. T.C. Windham, a Black contractor from Birmingham, managed the church’s building. The church was completed in 1911 with Romanesque and Byzantine elements.
Based on its location in Birmingham, the church became a centerpiece of the Civil Rights Movement. The church hosted lecturers and became a gathering place for meetings and rallies. Unfortunately, the church became a target of white supremacists on Sunday, September 15, 1963, when a bomb went off at 10:22 AM. The bomb killed 4 girls and injured more than 20 others. Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair lost their lives that day. It took years to bring the perpetrators to justice. Three out of the four were convicted.
Built in 1868, the First African Baptist Church in Darien is a replica of an earlier-built 1834 church on the same site. It was burned during the 1863 burning by Federal troops during the Civil War.
Once known as Grace Baptist Church, this Gothic Revival building always gets my attention when I drive through Darien. In researching this church, it is also listed as the Imanuel House of Prayer. It is a contributing property to the local historic district.
It’s most known for being the wedding location of John F. Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette. This one-room church was established in 1893 in the area known as The Settlement, where many men and women born into slavery made their home after the Civil War.
This building was rebuilt in the 1930s and sits on the island’s north end.
