34 comments

  1. I have relatives buried there and hope to visit it someday soon.

  2. I have relatives buried there,

  3. Does anyone have the cemetery transcription of this cemetery?

    1. Check the genealogical society in Gordo. They do have a list of the grave stones.

  4. How would one find out if ancestors are buried there? Is this cemetery listed on findagrave.com?

  5. Suzanne Smith Pearson, Ivy Teressa Pearson, Neely Suzanne Pearson, Sydney Pearson

  6. I visited this cemetery this spring. It was much cleaner than this pictue.

  7. I have been doing research on Civil War soldiers buried in Pickens County and have been to this cemetery several times. Took a friend there two weeks ago because she wanted to see the old cemetery. Four confederate soldiers is buried there. Two cemeteries side by side with different names , one was for the whites and other for blacks. Someone has been taking care of both cemeteries. Wasn’t grown up like the picture except where The Big Creek stone across the road is located.

    1. I believe the church could be just past the cemetery, but I have not been that far. Cemetery is a little ways outside Carrollton on HWY 86

    2. I know exactly who has been improving this cemetery & providing the care & attention it has received! Contact me & I will tell you!
      I visit this cemetery EVERY year – have done so for years/ Others that I know have, also

  8. I want to visit that cemetery

  9. And did they get to sit in the front pews?

  10. The Dempsey White mentioned as one of the first deacons is my relative. Really enjoyed reading about the church. Wish I could visit. Always wonderful articles on Alabama Pioneers! Thanks for all your hard work!

    1. Thank you for taking the time to comment. Glad you enjoy the articles.
      Donna

  11. too bad nobody maintains this. that’s sad

  12. The first church Enon baptist, had the land donated by my great great great grandfather Parks E Ball…in the garden community just northwest of Aliceville. The cemetery there is well maintained….also, his home is the oldest in the county (found a bluestone in the fire place during restoration with April, 1820 etched into it.). We are restoring the home now….

    1. Jason, my Ball family has many relatives/ancestors who lived in Aliceville, some are buried in the old Garden Cemetery. You and I are related through Parks E Ball, my GGGGrandfather too. His son Franklin Harris Ball/Susan Richey Ball, his son Oliver Owen Ball/Mary Minta Ball, my father Edward Louis Ball was born on the farm in 1914 and later was in WW2/France 1944-45. Mom & 4 brothers moved into Aliceville to live next to our Grandparents when Dad was in France. My Mom was Juliette Windham Derryberry Ball and my 4 brothers & sister were All born on the Ball Farm except me. She had me at Druid City Hospital in 1947. Our family moved to Clearwater Florida in 1949 but visited over the years. My family are all deceased except my sister Suzanne in Texas now and my brother Wilson Ball in Alberta Canada. I live in Northern Virginia. Respond if you want more information. My Mother was from around Gainesville. My Aunt Olivia Ball Sullivan owned the old Phoenix Hotel across from the Courthouse in Carrollton. We used to stay there when visiting in the early 1950s. Related to other old families named Ball, Hines, Proctors, Ellis’s, etc. two other Ball homes that are probably gone now were on Rt 14. The land was sold in the last 4-5 years or so by my cousins Rebekkah Ball in Tuscaloosa & her brother Jimmy Ball, now deceased. Jimmy owned guitar shops but he and his wife both died in the last few years. They had the Ball family Bible so it’s probably with their relatives or children. Ball family lived there when Alabama was a territory.

    2. That’s correct…..we have most of that history recorded…..we are restoring the old ball plantation home and trying to put some of the acreage back together…..send me all the linage you have and let me see what is missing on ancestry.com. Come see us sometime.

  13. There’s a old cemetery in Brecon subdivision in Talladega. Dating back to the 1880s

  14. Do they have a list of people buried there?

  15. Such an interesting article written back in 1940. My husband was born in Pickens county in 1932 and is presumably related to the Sherrod name that was mentioned. Love that area and all the beautiful old churches. My husband’s cousin, Bobbye Craft Winston, did extensive, well researched genealogy on this area, its families and churches. We are eternally grateful for all that she accomplished for all of us.

  16. I would be glad to talk with any of you all, or others about the history of that church and others in Pickens. 2017 will be the bicentennial of the settlement and the coming of the Gospel light to Pickens. You can help me prepare. I have some mysteries. e.g. Halbert Mission Missionary Baptist Church near New Hope, Ms. Could this mark an early Choctaw Mission? Henry Sales Halbert from Yorkville, Al devoted much of his life to learning the language and tales of the Choctaws. The location of Bethany Cumberland Presbyterian Church mentioned in the Synod minutes from 1825. Ebenezer ME on Cold Fire Creek–did it become Pickenville ME? Location of Antioch Baptist Church ca 1830. in Buttehatchie assn. Lettered early members of Fellowship BC. G. Farley, dom of Pickens Baptist Association

  17. Be nice to read if not for the damn pop up!

  18. Parks E Ball….my ggg grandfather gave the land to start the enon Baptist church in the garden…..I now live in his plantation home

  19. As an amateur genealogist who explores old cemeteries in AL and TN, including church and private ones, the comments to this article are so good to see and especially to read.

    I want to add an additional note regarding the referenced history of some Baptist Churches and more specifically the religious approach towards black folks, as mentioned in the several paragraphs in the article. My note is just for additional clarification.

    Following the Nat Turner slave rebellion in Southampton County, VA, in 1831, there was a far-reaching change in how white leaders across the South handled religion for black folks. Church leaders were included. Some changes were self-generated, and others were imposed, as the reference article says, “as far as the law tolerates”. For example, after the rebellion, new state laws were passed in slave states that prohibited an assembly of more than 3 blacks, even for religious purposes. Stricter laws were passed to prohibit teaching blacks to read and write. Any black male who possessed preacher-like talents, as Nat Turner did, was restricted from doing so. Black congregations were allowed to sit in white churches only if they met outside the church on Sunday afternoon and only if the white preacher was preaching. It became almost impossible for blacks to self-learn anything about religion. I got my first glimpse into this “other side of church history” after readying a diary of a Baptist preacher from Virginia who rode a circuit around “The Fork” area in Alabama and the personal struggles of his soul as the Civil War approached. The general situation of that day is ably documented in more scholarly books on the complex subject of race and religion across the South. Knowing about it helped me understand the conflict a genealogist of any skill level feels when looking back on Southern slave history, even as it relates to the history of church cemeteries.

  20. I used to sit on the front porch on my grandmother’s brother and listen to his stories and watch him chew tobacco and spit into a Samka coffee can. The name of his tobacco was Footprints. He lived in Wicksburg, the only doctor for miles around. I have looked high and low for this brand. Can anyone help me? There was the imprint og a bunnies footprint on the bottom of the can.

  21. […] NOTE: Read more about Big Creek Baptist at Trials of members were held at the oldest Baptist Church in Pickens County, Alabama […]

  22. Some of our Ancestors are buried at Fellowship Baptist-old Reform/Gordo HWY

  23. Wish people living close would help clean this up!

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