Dale County AlArchives News.....Claybank-Our Heritage by Glenn Wells October 3 1979
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 April 24, 2004, 3:37 pm

Southern Star
CLAYBANK CHURCH GETTING FACELIFT—Martin Price, top photo, president of Claybank 
Memorial Cemetery Assoc. tells people attending the meeting of the Dale County 
Historical Society meeting Sunday of plans to restore Claybank Church. A grant 
of $12,000 has been provided by John B. Amos of Columbus, Ga., president of 
American Family Life Insurance Co., to pay for extensive restoration of the 
church built in 1852. The work is under the direction of Dr. Joseph B. Mahan, 
of Columbus, Ga., who has been in charge of restoration work in Westville. 
Price said Mr. Amos was motivated to provide the restoration grant through his 
family relation- ship with the Byrd family,original settlers of Dale County, 
and among those families first connected with Claybank Church.

    
Southern Star Wed. Oct. 3, 1979--7B

           Claybank-Our Heritage
           By Glenn Wells

  Although Claybank Church is listed on the NationalRegister of Historic Places 
and is included in the Historic Chattahoochee Commission's brochure of 
interesting historic sites, few people know the romantic story of this edifice.
  When General Jackson signed a treaty with the Creek Indians on August 9,1814, 
settlers began moving into this area of Alabama and with them came preachers 
called Circuit Riders because they went from settlement to settlement on 
horseback. At first they preached in cabins of the settlers, under brush arbors-
 anywhere-the gospel message was proclaimed.
  To fill the need for a meeting place the first house of worship  at Claybank 
was built in 1829-1830 by the early settlers.The church was crudely constructed 
of round logs and the flooring and seats were made of puncheons-logs split 
through the middle with flat sides made smooth with a broad axe. The roof was 
made of boards rived from tree trunks. Wooden pegs were used for nails and the 
door hung on wooden hinges.There were no means of heating and the cracks 
between the logs served the dual purpose of light and ventilation. The church 
was the center of social, religious and political life in the community for 
many years. It had no denominational ties and drew the hardy pioneers from 
miles in all directions.
  As the population grew, the crude church was used more frequently by the 
Methodists and in 1852 was replaced by the present building. It was erected by 
the members of the Claybank Methodist Church, chiefly through the efforts of a 
local preacher and his family, Rev. Dempsey Dowling. Century old trees were 
hewn square and were placed on a foundation of fat lightwood stumps. There are 
four small windows which offer little sunlight with old fashioned wooden 
shutters opening to the outside. Board shingles, rived by hand, covered the 
church, but these have now been replaced. The crude pulpit and the table with 
the yellow pottery water pitcher are gone, but the benches made in 1852 remain 
in place, worn smooth by those who came to worship God so many years 
ago.             !
  The cemetery on the church grounds is as old as the church itself and in its 
hallowed soil are buried many of the pioneer members representing most of the 
early families to settle in the Claybank area, particularly those affiliated 
with the church. After Claybank Church became inactive in the late 1870's, the 
descendants of the pioneer families wanted to keep alive the romantic past of 
Claybank and an annual homecoming was organized for the first Sunday in May, a 
tradition which is now a century old.
  The homecoming pilgrimage was an event of far reaching significance. For 
those who had loved ones buried in the cemetery, it was a time for reliving the 
past, honoring the dead pioneers of the church and visiting with the friends 
who came from far and near. The preacher for the occasion was always carefully 
chosen and often had roots himself at Claybank. Before  the  event  the 
Southern Star carried a notice, usually inserted by N.P. Dowling, calling for a 
work day preparing the grounds.
  When the day finally arrived the people would assemble early, decked out in 
their Sunday best with buggies and wagons laden with baskets of food for dinner 
on the ground and flowers to place on the graves. After a song-fest of the 
popular old hymns of the day, the preaching would begin. The sermon not only 
had the message of faith that sustained their fore- fathers, it filled the 
congregation wilh a warm glow of pride  in  the heritage that was theirs.
  Today, the stillness of Sunday morning is no longer broken by the sound
of horse drawn carriages in the yard  of Claybank Church. Those sounds have 
been replaced by  the popping of helicopter blades and the roaring of hundreds 
of horse power engines as cars pass on nearby U.S. Highway 231.
  Though those early Southeast Alabama pioneers would hardly recognize the area 
around their church now, it has been preserved. Fast food res-
taurants are easily visible from the churchyard and the highway by the church 
leads to a modern military base, Ft. Rucker.
  Claybank Church is no longer used for worship services but its influence has 
not been forgotten. It has become an outstanding historic shrine in Dale 
County, Alabama.

  From the Newspaper files of Harold Stephens
  Scanned & Submitted by Christine G. Thacker.
  Permission to post any Southern Star article or pictures given            by 
Mr Joseph Adams, Owner, April.23, 2004.

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