Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mt. Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. Bear Marsh - A Historic Church "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore A few days ago I ran across a full page article which I did on old Bear Marsh Baptist Church in 1976. I also found an excellent photograph of the church taken in 1896. One of the objectives of this column is to keep alive an interest & pride in our local heritage, so I am writing again about Bear Marsh Church. Bear Marsh Baptist Church was organized in 1763 & it is located about five miles southeast of Mount Olive in Duplin County, near Beautancus. It is the oldest Baptist Church in what is now Duplin & Wayne counties. It the mother of a number of churches in this area including the Mount Olive Baptist Church. The Rev. Jeremiah Rhame & the Rev. John Nobles organized the church on February 25, 1763, with 10 members. A church building was built near the present site & Mr. Rhame served as pastor until 1775. The first church building was burned in 1790 & was soon rebuilt & burned again in 1850. The present church was built in 1857 & was built of heart long leaf pine. It was built in Greek Revival style with shutters on windows. This type of architecture did not call for a steeple. A balcony was built for the servants but was later removed along with other changes. From the accompanying photograph, one can readily see the fine proportions of the church before the remodeling. There are two front doors, one for men & one for the women since in those days men & women sat separately in many churches. Bear Marsh was originally a member of the Kehukee Baptist Association organized in 1742, but is now a member of the Eastern Baptist Association, organized in 1827. Some of the early pastors were: the Rev. William Goodman, 1775-1781; the Rev. Charles Hines, 1781-1792; the Rev. Francis Oliver, 1792-1808; the Rev. J. Dunn Hufham, D.D.; the Rev. John T. Albritton & the Rev. A. C. Dixon, D.D., 1874-1875. Dr. Hufham was editor of the Biblical Recorder during the War Between the States. Dr. Dixon was also pastor of the famous Spurgeon's Church in London for 18 years. Bear Marsh still has a flourishing congregation. I had the pleasure of making an address there for their Historical Bicentennial on March 28, 1976. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Guy Potts ==============================================================