ALABAMA REGISTER OF LANDMARKS & HERITAGE NOMINATION FORM 1. NAME OF PROPERTY Historic Name: and/or Common Name: Preferred name for Certificate: Historic Name or Common Name 2. LOCATION Street & Number: City: State: Alabama County: Zip: Is the property located within the city limits? Yes No Latitude: Longitude: Township: Range: Section: USGS Quad Map: 3. CLASSIFICATION Category: Building(s) District Structure Site Object Ownership: Public Private Both Status: Occupied Unoccupied Work in progress Accessible: No Yes: restricted Yes: unrestricted 4. OWNER OF PROPERTY Name: Address: 126 Snow Hill Drive City: Fort Deposit State: AL Zip: 36032 Telephone: 334-227-0011 Email: braxtondale@hotmail.com 5. FLOOR PLAN & SITE PLAN Attach sketched floor plan. If the property includes more than one building, submit a site plan showing the locations, dates of construction, and uses of the buildings. 1
6. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION See Instructions for more information. Construction date: Alteration date: Architect/Builder: Physical condition: (Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor, Ruinous) No. of stories: Historic use of property: Current use of property: Architectural style category: Basic typology: Basic floor plan: Current exterior wall material(s): Main roof configuration: Porch type: Window type and materials: Describe alterations: c. 1843 published church history c. 1900-1920 published church history Unknown Unknown Good One Religious Religious Vernacular Source: Source: Contractor: Remaining historic fabric: (High, Medium, Low) Architectural style sub-category: Gable-front, double doors Basic shape: center aisle Historic Construction material(s): Roof finish material(s): Weatherboard Gable Foundation material: N/A six-over-six double-hung sash C. 1900-1920, beaded board interior walls and wainscoting; brick piers c. 1970 Number and type of all outbuildings on the property: (if significant, fill out separate survey form) None Exterior Architectural Description: The historic Hopewell Baptist Church, now the Mt. Willing Baptist Church, is a one-story gable-front frame building that has an asphalt shingle gable roof and rests on hand-hewn logs on a brick pier foundation. The east facade consists of symmetrical double-paneled front doors, in the middle of which is placed an symmetrical 6/6 double-hung sash window. The south and north elevations have similar five symmetrical bays of 6/6 double-hung sash windows. The west (rear) elevation has three symmetrical window bays. The interior has a single-central aisle plan with two rows of eight c. 1843 wood pews per section. The wood floor dates c. 1843 but the beaded board interior with wainscoting dates c. 1900. The wood pulpit, which rests on a wood platform, dates c.1900-1920. At c. 1900, the church interior was changed (see continuation sheet) Description of Setting: High Rectangular Log, frame, brick Asphalt shingle Brick piers The church sits at a rural crossroads on Highway 21 and although trees and brush grown closer on the north side of the buidling, the church still retains a high degree of setting and feeling. A small circular drive is at the gable entrance of the church. 2
7. SIGNIFICANCE Criteria (check all that apply and explain below). See Instructions for more information. Criterion A: Associated with historical events and activities relating to the property that are important to the history of the community, state, or nation. X Criterion B: Person or group with whom the property is associated is important to the history of the community, state, or nation. X Criterion C: Type, period, or method of construction represents architectural features that are significant in the development of the community, state, or nation. Criterion D: Property has yielded or may be likely to yield, information important in Alabama s history or prehistory (archaeological component). AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE (check all that apply and explain below) X X archeology-prehistoric community planning industry religion archeology-historic conservation landscape architecture scientific agriculture education law sculpture architecture engineering literature social history art exploration/settlement military theater commerce funerary art music other: communications humanitarian politics/government STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE For each area of significance checked above, explain why this property is important. Use additional sheets as necessary. Hopewell Baptist Church, now known as Mt. Willing Baptist Church, has long been a vernacular architecture landmark along Highway 21 in Lowndes County. The congregation dates to 1832 and the present building was constructed c. 1843. A history of churches in Lowndes County includes an entry on Hopewell Baptist Church, which states that the property was purchased in 1843 "'for the sole purpose of building a house of worship.'"(strickland, n.p.) The present church building dates to that era, as its unadorned exterior, punctuated by the twin doublepaneled doors of the entrance, together with the symmetry of the six bay sides of the church are typical of rural church architecture of the mid-19th century. Since its construction, some changes have happened with a beaded board interior and chair rail dating c. 1900 and a dropped ceiling and electrical lights dating c. 1940. But these changes do not diminish the quiet dignity of the original design and workmanship. The history of the church is significantly associated with David Lee, who was minister there from the 1830s to 1886. Lee, described by Wayne Flint as a "distinguished antebellum preacher" (Flynt, 159), was a long-time leader of the Alabama Baptist Association, serving nine years as the clerk and 40 years as the moderator for its annual session (Minutes of the 67th Annual Session, 14). At the time of the creation of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845-- where southern Baptists separated from their northern counterparts over the issue of slavery--lee was one of 14 Alabama delegates attending the convention in Augusta, Georgia (Flynt, 107). From the 1840s into the 1870s Lee actively led the association's missionary efforts. His own church, in 1868, had 164 white and 74 African American members. But an integrated congregation did not last. In fact, the Alabama Baptist Association complained in that same 1868 report, "Letters from several of the churches speak of the difficulty of ascertaining where many of their colored members are; their general neglect of the regular meetings of the church, the impossibility of exercising property discipline over them, and a strong and growing disposition to a separate organization. Where such things 3
8. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Use attached sheets as necessary Flynt, Wayne. Alabama Baptists: Southern Baptists in the Heart of Dixie. Tuscalooa: University of Alabama Press, 1998. Minutes of the 49th Annual Session of the Alabama Baptist Association... Hayneville: Hayneville Examiner, 1868. Minutes of the 67th Annual Session of the Alabama Baptist Association... Montgomery, 1886. Strickland, Joe E. "Hopewell Baptist Church," mimeographed copy provided by Snow Hill Christian Church to author. 9. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA Acreage of nominated property: approximately one acre Attach a map showing the location of the property. 10. Person Applying for Historic Register Designation Name: Dale Braxton, pastor (Carroll Van West, nomination author) Address: Snow Hill Christian Church, 126 Snow Hill Drive City: Fort Deposit State: AL Zip: 36032 Telephone: 334-227-0011 Email: braxtondale@hotmail.com, Carroll.West@mtsu.edu 11. PHOTOGRAPHS: Images are essential to the review process. Submit current, good quality digital images on a CD/DVD. Interior and exterior photos are required. Good quality 4 x 6 photos will be accepted, but do NOT staple or tape photographs. All images will become the property of the AHC and will not be returned. 12. REMINDER: Along with this completed application, include attachments for Items 5, 9 and 11 and send them to: Alabama Historical Commission Attn: Jennifer Bailey 468 S. Perry Street Montgomery, Alabama 36130-0900 334.230.2643 Jennifer.Bailey@preserveala.org 4
Continuation sheet Architectual Description: with the installation of a beaded-board interior with wainscoting. At about c. 1940, the ceiling was dropped, which obscures the location of an original slave gallery, and electric lights with globes installed. This electrical system remains extant. At an unknown time, but believed to be in the first half of the twentieth century, the rear wall behind the pulpit was extended forward to create a small space for a pastor's study and as a choir storage space. Statement of Significance exist, we think it would be better to encourage them to establish independent churches" (Minutes of 49th Annual Session, 9). The association's committee on the state of religion agreed: "The colored members generally evince a disposition to separate from the whites, and your committee are of the opinion that it would be the best under existing circumstances for them to organize separate churches." (Minutes of 49th Annual Session, 10). Soon Hopewell Baptist Church was a segregated institution and it remained that way for the next 100 years. In 1872, Hopewell Baptist Church began a new period of temperance activity by petitioning, and winning, support from the Alabama General Assembly for a new law that forbade the sale of liquor within five miles of the church and its adjacent academy. From that point on, the church strongly supported the temperance initiatives of the Alabama Baptist Association. Rev. David Lee due to illness stepped down from his posts in the Alabama Baptist Association in 1886. He died the next year, ending a career that his colleagues called a "sad and notable event in our history" (Minutes of the 67th Annual Session, 12). 5