Beech Island Baptist Church

Front: This church was organized in the Beech Island Academy on January 21, 1832, with Rev. Iverson Brooks as its first minister and Mathias Ardis and Randolph Bradford as its first deacons. This sanctuary, built on land donated by James T. Gardner and Abner Whatley, with lumber, other materials, and carpenters donated by Dawson Atkinson, was dedicated in September 1832; the Sunday School was organized in 1839. Reverse: Charter members of Beech Island Baptist Church were Mathias and Louisa Ardis, Dawson and Marie Atkinson, Randolph Bradford, John and Ann Everett, James T. Gardner, Samuel and Rebecca Gardner, Eliza Gray, James Hankinson, Lida Lamar, Jonathan Miller, Pranmore Owens, John and Harriet Swain, Briton and Adeline Ware, Abner and Elizabeth Whatley, and Edmond Whatley.