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 There have been at least four physical
locations for the church on Line Creek, three of them after 1860. The map to
the right shows the approximate spots, which are discussed below.1. The Shiplet Cemetery, from ? until 1860 This is the same place as marked for the Shiplet Cemetery on the main location map. The question mark is appropriate because both the placement of the church here and its placement as the original location is purely conjecture. Interesting and perhaps logical, but conjecture nonetheless. If the church was here the arrangement between the building and cemetery would have been similar that of Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church on Highway 461 (for those of you who know what that looks like), with the cemetery on a secondary hill above the building. For a more complete discussion of the pros and cons of this being one of the church's locations, please see the page on the Shiplet Cemetery. Assuming the church was here at some point, I believe there is a good possibility it was not the original 1806 location. The reason for this is somewhat simple—most of the population around that time was centered further south. I’ve not been able to find any families living north of the mouth of Elkhorn (Elkins) Branch at such an early date. One would assume the first church would have been near where the greatest number of families lived and prior to 1815 or so they seem to have been centered roughly around the mouth of Buffalo Branch. In particular the Warren family, who were among the earliest members, lived both north and south of Buffalo Branch, but no farther north than Elkhorn Branch. 2. James Cooper's land, 1861-1868 The first existing church record says the new building will be built "near the upper end of James Cooper's land," which is somewhat ambiguous. The blue-shaded area on the map represents what would have been his northern-most land in 1860. By 1861, in fact, before the building was completed in August 1861, he may have owned land farther north, but in September of 1860 he did not. In the time while the building was being constructed, the church met at the homes of James Cooper, Mahala Duncan, Nelson Jones, and Jeremiah Brinkley, all marked on the map. Since Duncan was Cooper's mother and from the wording of the deed from Tilman Duncan (Cooper's step-father) to Cooper giving him the land, it appears the Duncan and Cooper houses were one and the same. Nelson Jones' house was once Mathew Warren's house and there are deed references to this dwelling which place it as marked. There are also deed references to Jeremiah Brinkley's house, which may have been made of stone, placing it west of the creek not far from the mouth of Dyer's Branch. 3. Peter Snider's, 1868-1880 After the apparent church split in June 1868 (see the records) the church met primarily at Peter Snider's, although the August 1868 meeting was at Perry Bullock's, who was living approximately where marked in 1866. Peter Snider owned the land around his mark until 1879. At some point the assembly probably built some type of structure in which to meet. That's not clear from the records, but meeting in a member's home for twelve years with the membership increases which occurred seems unlikely. But because of the wording of the next move (see below), I do believe they stayed in the same general area near Snider's house. 4. The "new meeting house on the hill," 1880-present At the April 1880 meeting, the church voted to "move her place of worship to the new meeting house on the hill," on land which Perry Bullock donated. This is the church cemetery's present location and where the building stood until it burned in the fall of 2001. If viewed from the perspective of Peter Snider's valley land, the new building would have indeed been "on the hill," on a ridge-top and near the intersection of three well-traveled roads. |