Anchors of Faith. Martha Dickson
which are encircled by a low cement wall. Built by lumber baron John Fletcher Comer in 1841, the church originally had a slave gallery entered by exterior stairs that were removed about 1890. The church’s membership in 1872 probably reflects the results of the Civil War; of the 104 members, 72 were women and only 32 were men. Two-room Sunday school space was added to the left of the church in 1954. A cemetery with elaborate tombstones is located to the right of the church; several graves are located on the left of the church as well. To a large degree, a trust from the Comer family business, Avondale Mills, maintains the church building and cemetery.
Services are held on two Sundays a month.
Mount Zion Baptist Church
Mt. Zion Church Rd. (three miles southwest of Louisville just off Hwy. 51), Louisville, AL 36048
Barbour County
Mount Zion Baptist Church was established in 1845. With the exception of the overlapping steeple caps clad in metal shingles, the building is representative of Southern vernacular. Originally, the area between the two towers, currently enclosed, may have been open. After receiving extensive damage in a major storm in the 2000s, the church underwent renovation and repairs.
The church has added educational space and continues an active ministry as a participating member of the Barbour Baptist Association.
Woodstock United Methodist Church
73 Strickland Dr., Woodstock, AL 35188
Bibb County
Woodstock was organized December 1886 as a Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Land was deeded to build a church in 1893, and the present church building was completed that year. The imposing Victorian Gothic style building, constructed of heart pine with square nails, has been little changed. It retains its pointed door and windows and its original, elaborate steeple, as well as original interior features of wainscoting, wooden pews, chancel rail, and light fixtures. The church is included in the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.
Woodstock United Methodist Church is dedicated to being fruitful in God’s service.
Green Pond Presbyterian Church
65 Presbyterian Church Rd. (off Eastern Valley Rd.), Green Pond, AL 35074
Bibb County
This church was established in 1826, and the present church building was erected about 1884. The building’s well-proportioned original sanctuary is in front of added educational space to the rear. A large cemetery is located behind the church and extends on the right. Green Pond Presbyterian Church is included in the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.
The church continues to maintain an active ministry in this expanding area.
Fitzpatrick Baptist Church
Fitzpatrick Rd. (CR 7 off Hwy. 110), Fitzpatrick, AL 36029
Bullock County
Fitzpatrick Baptist Church was founded in 1897, although what is now an unincorporated town with a population under a thousand was founded in the mid-nineteenth century. The building can be loosely categorized as a country example of the Renaissance Revival style, a hybrid form of neoclassicism. Features in that style include the heavy octagonal steeple and Serlian, or Palladian, window in the pediment, the dentilated cornice, and the columns’ Scamozzi Ionic capitals. Scamozzi capitals solved the decorative problem posed by Greek Ionic capitals, which appear differently when viewed from front and side.
The church is open on special occasions.
Wayman Chapel AME Church
107 Cooper St., Union Springs, AL 36089
Bullock County
This African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1882. The denomination, however, traces its roots to Philadelphia in 1789. Because the AME Church was outspoken in its opposition to slavery and its belief that all individuals and peoples are equal in God’s sight, the denomination was largely confined to the Northeast and Midwest before the Civil War. There were, however, antebellum AME churches in slave states: Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, Louisiana, and even South Carolina. The denomination entered defeated areas of the Confederacy with Union troops and thrived in the era after the Civil War. Wayman Chapel is a fine example of Victorian Gothic architecture; its exterior and interior remain much as they were when constructed. The large bay increases the width of the sanctuary. Wayman Chapel, with its signature steeple, is included as one of the historical sights of Union Springs.
The church has added educational space to the rear and continues to provide an active ministry.
Forest Home Methodist Church
7470 Forest Home Rd. (CR 46), Forest Home, AL 36030
Butler County
The Reverend Joseph M. Scott, father-in-law of one of the town’s leading citizens, organized Forest Home Methodist Church between 1878 and 1880. The Colonial Revival church building’s most striking architectural features are the Serlian, or Palladian, window in the gable and the heavy cornice capping the door. The building has been maintained in pristine condition. The educational space at the rear is an addition to the original church building. A large cemetery is located diagonally across the road from the church.
Forest Home Methodist Church continues an active ministry today with Sunday school every Sunday and worship services on the first and third Sundays.
Wesley Chapel Methodist Church
3090 East Hwy. 106 (Wesley Chapel Rd. /CR 16), Georgiana, AL 36033
Butler County
Using lumber from nearby Rhodes Mill, this church building was erected in 1897. The steep roof soon caused a strain on the long side walls, causing them to buckle slightly. The solution was to install iron tie-bolts to hold the walls in place. The problem was solved, and the tie-bolts remain in use today. Nothing remains of the old lumber mill today nor of the small community that grew up around it except this fine church building and the nearby cemetery.
The church holds Sunday services.
Mt. Zion Primitive Baptist Church
North Mt. Zion Rd. (CR 65 off SR 10 East), Greenville, AL 36037
Butler County
Still active among a declining number of Primitive Baptist churches, Mt. Zion was established in this rural area in 1832, the very year that Primitive (“original” or Old School Baptists) formally established themselves as a denomination separate from New School Baptists. Between 1815 and 1848, the Wiregrass area was central to the doctrinal disputes that resulted in this Baptist schism. Primitive Baptists are Calvinist, believing, among other things, in salvation