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Bailey Springs AME Church 1
It started in the 1880s with meetings in private homes, in clearings in the woods, or in buildings that had been vacated for reasons now unknown.
Exact dates and the names of the people who met during that time are also unknown. But their work — and worship — remains the cornerstone anchoring Bailey Springs AME Church, a tight-knit community church in rural Lauderdale County.
Many of those first worshipers still have family who preserve its history and continue to have services at the church. This year, the decedents of those first worshipers came together for a family reunion with a special focus.
A historical marker was erected on the church grounds, tracing the church history and noting that African-Americans in the Bailey Springs area have held services in and around the present site for approximately 130 years.
“I didn’t know what I was getting into,” Johnnie Dollerson said with a laugh as she surveyed the papers covering counter space in her kitchen that traced her family’s history and connection with Bailey Springs. She was a principal planner for the reunion, and for soliciting the funds and help needed to obtain the marker that was formally unveiled June 22 during the reunion weekend.
The reunion encompassed the Brannon and Brown family, and the historical marker makes note of an important ancestor: Private Anthony Brannon, who was born in Lauderdale County around 1843. Brannon served in the Civil War with the 111th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops, Infantry. He survived the war and was married in 1867. The first building that housed the church was called Hewitt School. It was built in 1920 on land donated by the A.H. Hewitt family. Funding and labor were provided by farmers and sharecroppers in the community — and by Brannon. blackchristiannews.com/2018/07/rural-alabama-ame-church-c...
Bailey Springs AME Church 1
It started in the 1880s with meetings in private homes, in clearings in the woods, or in buildings that had been vacated for reasons now unknown.
Exact dates and the names of the people who met during that time are also unknown. But their work — and worship — remains the cornerstone anchoring Bailey Springs AME Church, a tight-knit community church in rural Lauderdale County.
Many of those first worshipers still have family who preserve its history and continue to have services at the church. This year, the decedents of those first worshipers came together for a family reunion with a special focus.
A historical marker was erected on the church grounds, tracing the church history and noting that African-Americans in the Bailey Springs area have held services in and around the present site for approximately 130 years.
“I didn’t know what I was getting into,” Johnnie Dollerson said with a laugh as she surveyed the papers covering counter space in her kitchen that traced her family’s history and connection with Bailey Springs. She was a principal planner for the reunion, and for soliciting the funds and help needed to obtain the marker that was formally unveiled June 22 during the reunion weekend.
The reunion encompassed the Brannon and Brown family, and the historical marker makes note of an important ancestor: Private Anthony Brannon, who was born in Lauderdale County around 1843. Brannon served in the Civil War with the 111th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops, Infantry. He survived the war and was married in 1867. The first building that housed the church was called Hewitt School. It was built in 1920 on land donated by the A.H. Hewitt family. Funding and labor were provided by farmers and sharecroppers in the community — and by Brannon. blackchristiannews.com/2018/07/rural-alabama-ame-church-c...