Historic Mt. Pilgrim African Baptist Church
Posted by: 
Markerman62
N 30° 37.205 W 087° 02.423
16R E 496129 N 3387499
Located at 5103 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Drive, Milton
Waymark Code: WM1669N
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 05/16/2022
Views: 0
The original members of Mt. Pilgrim African Baptist Church came from Milton's First Baptist Church. Established in 1845, First Baptist's membership was comprised of 83 whites and 33 blacks by 1849. Some of the black congregants were likely enslaved laborers working for one of the largest slaveholders in Florida, Jackson Morton, whose plantation was near Milton. In 1866, First Baptist's black congregants broke away to form Mt. Pilgrim. The fist services, led by the Rev. Nay, were held in a scuppernong arbor. In 1880, the church purchased property on Canal Street in Milton and built a wood frame church building. Community members and church leaders met in 1888 to organize a Benevolent Colored Cemetery Association, and elected Dacon A. Odum to be its first president. The association purchased land for the burial ground, later named Keyser Street Cemetery. In 1916, fire destroyed the church on Canal Street. Under the Rev. King David Britt's leadership, the W.A. Rayfield & Company, a prominent black architectural firm from Alabama, designed this brick Gothic Revival style church. Mt. Pilgrim continued to be a focal point for Milton's black community, and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Marker Number: F-1131
Date: 2020
County: Santa Rosa
Marker Type: City
Sponsored or placed by: The Church and Community, and the Florida Department of State
Website: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:
In your log, please say if you learned something new, and if you took any extra time to explore the area once you stopped at the historic marker waymark.
Please post a photo at the marker location.
Recent Visits/Logs:
| There are no logs for this waymark yet. |
|
|
|