January 31, 2002

Cartledge Creek Baptist adds to its history

Through A Glass Darkly, by John Myers, Internet Photojournalist

Before there was a Richmond County, Rockingham or Hamlet, NC -- two years before the Declaration of Independence -- Cartledge Creek Baptist Church was formed by early settlers in the area.

In 1769, Thomas Dockery moved from Maryland with his family and several others and settled on Cartledge Creek, about four miles northwest of what would become Rockingham. Shortly after he built his home, he began holding Bible study meetings on Sundays for his family and neighbors in his home.

In 1774, the Sunday morning Bible study group organized as a Baptist church and built its first church on three acres next to his home donated by Dockery. Known as Dockery's Meeting House initially, somewhere in the 1800s the church became known as Cartledge Creek Baptist and it is believed to be the oldest continuously meeting Baptist church in the entire state.

Dockery's descendants are still members, and five generations removed, Elizabeth Covington, 89, lives in an 1866 Dockery home next to the church and is the church's unofficial historian.

Participating in the groundbreaking ceremony for a new sanctuary at Cartledge Creek Baptist Church on Sunday, Jan. 27, are from left, Rev. Dr. Jerry Straight, pastor; Elizabeth Covington, the oldest member; Grayson Olivia Brown, the youngest member; Ed Deberry, chairman of the deacons; Joe Ussery, chairman of the building committee; and Ronnie Hawks, construction superintendent.

"Miss Lib" as she is known, published a history of the church for its bicentennial celebration in 1974. Her mother was a Dockery, and stories about the Dockery family history she has researched are often intertwined with the history of the church.

And as the oldest member of the church "Miss Lib" helped wield a shovel last Sunday when the church broke ground on a building and renovation project which will add 5,400 square feet to the church and double seating in the 1826 sanctuary.

"The church has seen so many changes and so many things happen," commented "Miss Lib," who has seen many of them in her 89 years. She saw the formation of one of the four churches to come from Cartledge Creek, Crestveiw Baptist in 1968.

Piney Grove Baptist was the first church to form from Cartledge Creek, but did not survive the Civil War. Black members from Cartledge Creek formed a new church in 1869, Holly Grove Missionary Baptist. And 16 members from Cartledge Creek were founding members of First Baptist of Rockingham in 1879.

The church has had several additions and renovations over the years, but the basic structure of the sanctuary has been largely unchanged since 1869, with the addition of new pews, carpeting, air conditioning and a new steeple and vestibule.

Preserving the old sanctuary while adding on was a priority, so the church hired the moving firm which relocated the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse to lift and rebuild the foundation without damage, said Ronnie Hawks, construction superintendent.

Hawks said he and Joe Ussery, chairman of the building committee, are both building contractors, so they decided to see for themselves whether the ancient timbers holding up the sanctuary were still solid, or whether they should be replaced.

"Some of the members said we ought to replace the old sanctuary because the floor has sagged. There's about a five-inch drop from the center aisle to the walls," Hawks said. "One fellow said he was afraid to roll a casket down the center aisle because it might fall through." So Hawks and Ussery investigated.

"We crawled all under there and checked every joist. The central beam is at least 24 inches wide. It's probably more solid that what we're going to be building on," Hawks said.

All the original lumber is heart pine, and Hawks said not only it is still solid, but so hard you can't drive a nail through it.

When the early church had outgrown the original 1774 building, which was about 100 yards east of the church, in 1826 members tore down the old church and used much of the hand-hewn lumber in the new church, located on top of the highest hill within miles, offering a grand view from the front door.

The church soon made state history while hosting the 1833 Baptist State Convention. During that meeting, the convention voted to form Wake Forest Institute on 615 acres of land north of Raleigh. That was the beginning of Wake Forest University, the Bapist college, which was later relocated to Winston-Salem.

The church fell into disrepair during the Civil War with all the men gone, but was rebuilt in 1869, again using much of the original lumber. The walls and rafters are put together with wooden pegs and mortise joints, and what few nails used then were hand-forged and have become so embedded in the heart-pine lumber they are now impossible to remove, Hawks said.

The original sanctuary will be "spruced up," Hawks said, and will remain with seating doubled for a total of 280 worshippers.

Six new classrooms will be added, plus four new offices, a combination choir and history room and a new baptistry.