Bethlehem Baptist Church

Bethlehem Baptist Church, first known as Cox's Meeting House and then as Spring Creek Church, was formally organized several miles northwest of here in 1790. Founding pastor Benjamin Watkins served for 41 years. African Americans constituted a significant portion of the congregation before departing to establish separate churches in the 1840s and shortly after the Civil War. From 1880 to 1885, Bethlehem member Nannie Bland David served as a missionary to Nigeria. Her dying words, “Never give up Africa,” inspired later missionaries. After relocating once in the 19th century, Bethlehem Baptist moved here in 1897 when its new sanctuary was completed.