In those regrettable times when slavery was the law of the land in the South, ironically, enslavers felt the need to provide religious service for the enslaved people they owned. One church that conducted Sunday worship service was Clark’s Neck Baptist Church in Saluda, Virginia.
Two black ministers, Rev. George W. Woods and Rev. George T. Sutherlin, were appointed by the church board of directors to preach to the enslaved members later in the day. While the service for enslaved people was held separately from the services for whites, church officers supervised them to ensure the sermons were acceptable to the church.
After emancipation finally became the law of the land in 1863 and black people gained their freedom, the former enslaved members withdrew from Clark’s Neck Baptist Church to organize their own church. Under the leadership of Rev. Woods and Rev. Sutherlin, they worshipped under a brush arbor south of Saluda on a piece of land given to them by a white benefactor from Deltaville, Virginia, named Rev. L. C. Bristow, pastor of Zoar Baptist Church in Deltaville, Virginia. The gift was with conditions. It was stipulated that should religious services be terminated; the land would revert to Rev. Bristow. In addition, Rev. Bristow volunteered as the first school teacher in the church for the people of color who attended there.
During the leadership of Rev. Woods and Rev. Sutherlin, Antioch Baptist Church was organized. On May 24, 1867, a piece of land in Saluda was purchased by the Antioch Baptist Church from Rev. Bristow to erect a church building. In just a year of backbreaking work by the parishioners, cutting logs and digging up stumps to clear the land, they had built the first modest church building.
The Rev. Samuel Harden of Hampton, Virginia, was assigned to conduct the first revival meeting in the new building. The revival sparked great interest. For a short time, the first pastor of the newly organized congregation was Rev. William Thornton of Hampton, Virginia. When he left, Rev. James Kenner became pastor. The Rev. Kenner was born into slavery in Essex County and knew from his own experience the cruelty and hardship endured by many of the people of his congregation. He was one of the first students of Wayland Seminary in Washington, D. C. Kenner also took over teaching school at the church.
By 1867, Rev. Kenner built the first traditional church building. A cornerstone was laid, and a church was completed relatively quickly, thanks to the determination and sheer willpower of the Rev. Kenner. During his pastorate, the Southside Rappahannock Baptist Association was organized for the people of color. Sadly, the Rev. Kenner died of a fever on September 17, 1877. In 1878, Rev. Robert Berkley, also a graduate of Wayland Seminary, took over as pastor and served for twelve years. Berkley established the area’s first high school for people of color, the Rappahannock Industrial Academy in Ozena, Virginia.
On October 24, 1877, the School Trustees of the Saluda District acquired a piece of land from Rev. L. C. Bristow and his wife to operate a school in Saluda, Virginia. Bristow and his wife were to be teachers in the school. This schoolhouse was placed on land adjacent to the Antioch Baptist Church and named the Antioch Elementary School. This one-room structure later became known as the Saluda Grade School.
Adjacent to the church is a rambling hilly cemetery where some notable parishioners are buried, including George A. Taylor, one of the Tuskegee airmen, and Joshua Holmes, the first black sheriff of Middlesex County. Another parishioner, Carey H Latimore III, was a magistrate who owned a boat business and was interred in the cemetery. His son, Dr. Carey Latimore IV, is also buried in the cemetery at Antioch Baptist Church. He was a Baptist minister and a revered professor of black history at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. The headstones in the church cemetery stand as milestones for the many contributions of those buried there.
The Rev. J.M. Powell became the fourth pastor and started building the present church circa 1894. The church was completed under the pastorship of Rev. C.R. Towles in 1895. In addition to his Herculean efforts to build the present building, he was influential in educating his parishioners. The sixth pastor, the Rev. W.P. Hayes, also had a passion for educating. He formed the first award-winning choir, fostered education, and built a parsonage. Next was the Rev. J.W. Tynes, who served for just a year and then yielded the pastorship to the Rev. W.B. Carrington. The Rev. Tynes returned to Antioch to become the ninth pastor in 1918. Rev. Tynes renewed his work. During his second administration, the parsonage was expanded, a baptismal pool was installed in the church, and other noteworthy things were accomplished after four years of zealous labor. Rev. Tynes resigned to accept the pastorate of the Eighth Street Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. Rev. Tynes was followed by Rev. Benjamin Gayles in 1922.
The Rev. Gayles, the tenth pastor, and his wife worked diligently to expand the church. A junior church and a junior choir were organized. The church building was redecorated several times in the interior and on the exterior. A new furnace was installed, and electric lights, a choir stand, and an organ were purchased. The parsonage was enlarged, and an educational building was annexed to the church. The Rev. Gayles continued to serve until his passing in 1969.
Reviewing the work of the white churches, one of this country’s greatest abolitionists, Frederick Douglass, had this to say:
“Between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference—so wide that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To be the friend of the one is of necessity to be the enemy of the other. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason but the most deceitful one for calling the religion of this land Christianity…” Douglass explained. “What I have said respecting and against religion, I mean strictly to apply to the slaveholding religion of this land, and with no possible reference to Christianity proper; for, between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference—so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To be the friend of the one is of necessity to be the enemy of the other.”
Courtesy of the Frederick Douglass Museum
The present pastor, Rev. Fred D. Holmes, Jr., a native of Newtown in King and Queen County, was installed as pastor on June 21, 1970. Rev. Holmes is a graduate of Virginia Union University. In addition to his work as a pastor of Antioch Baptist Church, Rev. Holmes has served in the Baptist General Convention of Virginia as its President of the Clergy. He is a Richmond Virginia Baptist Foundation Board of Directors member. He is also a past moderator of the Southside Rappahannock Baptist Association in Warsaw, Virginia, and president of its Junior Missionary Department. Rev. Holmes is an active participant in several other Baptist organizations in the area in addition to his duties as pastor of Antioch Baptist Church.
The Antioch Baptist Church enjoys a long and venerable history. It is the mother of four other local Baptist churches: Calvary, Zion Branch, Lebanon, and Immanuel. Antioch’s church bell once rang to summon all to worship and was made by the Bell Foundry Company in 1905.
In an effort to make the African-American history of Middlesex County more visible, the Middlesex County Museum and Historical Society initiated a project to have a historical highway marker erected for Antioch Baptist Church. Antioch is the oldest African-American church in Middlesex County and has been a beacon of leadership in the county for 158 years. It is also a part of the Saluda Historic District. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources has announced that the highway marker for Antioch will be dedicated on Saturday, August 3, 2024, at noon at the church, 159 Oakes Landing Road, Saluda. The marker, which is jointly sponsored by Antioch and the Middlesex County Museum, will be erected at the corner of Oakes Landing Road and Route 33 in front of the historic Middlesex County Courthouse. The public is invited to attend.
Antioch Baptist Church is an important part of the rich legacy of its members who, over a period of 150 years, threw off the bonds of slavery and embraced their lives as free and independent citizens. Their contributions are beyond measure.