Globe Hill Community and Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Globe Hill Community and Baptist Church, out in Lee County. Pull over if you need to, because this one goes deep. It starts with one man and a piece of land.

George Coleman Truitt was the founder of this predominantly African American community, and he came in with a plan. He bought land in the area and built at least nine box houses for his tenant farmers. He ran the community's only business, a general store.

The man was, by any measure, the engine of this whole place. Now, in 1887, Truitt and a man named Simon P. Davis went looking for a school site.

What they found was a rocky promontory, a kind of stony rise in the land, and they called it Rocky Hill. Truitt named the community after that feature. He would later rename it Globe Hill, and Globe Hill it became.

Truitt donated the land for the school. He later provided the site for the cemetery too. The schoolhouse was completed in November of 1887, and right from the start it pulled double duty, serving the community for church services as well.

The first teacher to walk through that door was Julia Donovan. The place kept growing. In the spring of 1889, the schoolhouse was enlarged to accommodate the growing student population.

Then, by 1908, students from Jones Colony and the Joseph and Margaret Dockery settlement began transferring in, and enrollment climbed to forty-six students. The school that Julia Donovan once opened her lessons in was eventually replaced, in the early nineteen-twenties, with a four-room Rosenwald School. That school was later annexed and moved to the Post Oak School in 1954.

But the school was only part of the story. In 1912, the Globe Hill Baptist Church was formed and organized by the community itself. An educator and a reverend, Frank Ruffin, became the first pastor.

Under his leadership, the congregation grew to more than ninety-six members, with up to two hundred attending at different times. Two hundred souls filling a church that started as a schoolhouse on a rocky hill. Reverend Ruffin served that congregation until he passed away in 1939.

Along the way, a women's mission was established, one that visited and cared for the needy and sick in the community. That kind of quiet, steady work is easy to overlook, but it held communities like this one together. In the nineteen-sixties, the church itself was remodeled.

Most of the community has left now. That's the truth of it, and it lands a little heavy. But here's the other truth: former residents return each year for the church's annual celebrations.

They come back to a rocky hill in Lee County, to the ground George Coleman Truitt once donated, to the church Frank Ruffin once shepherded. The names change, the years pass, but the returning, that part keeps happening.

What the marker says

George Coleman Truitt, founder of this predominantly African American community, bought land in the area and built at least nine box houses for his tenant farmers. Truitt also ran the community’s only business, a general store. In 1887, Truitt and Simon P. Davis selected a school site on a rocky promontory called Rocky Hill, for which Truitt named the community. He later renamed it Globe Hill. Truitt donated the land for the school and later provided the site for the cemetery. The schoolhouse, completed in November 1887, was also used for church services. The first teacher was Julia Donovan. In the spring of 1889, it was enlarged to accommodate the growing student population. By 1908, students from Jones Colony and the Joseph and Margaret Dockery settlement began transferring to the Globe Hill school and enrollment increased to forty-six students. The school was replaced in the early 1920s with a four-room Rosenwald School which was later annexed and moved to the Post Oak School in 1954. The Globe Hill Baptist Church was formed and organized by the community in 1912. An educator and reverend, Frank Ruffin, became the first pastor of the church. Under his leadership, the congregation grew to more than 96 members, with up to 200 attending at different times. Reverend Ruffin served the church until he passed away in 1939. A women’s mission was established that visited and cared for the needy and sick in the community. In the 1960s, the church was remodeled. Most of the community has left but former residents return each year for the church’s annual celebrations. (2012)