Liberty Missionary Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in the Sugar Hill community, something took root in 1866. Fresh out of one of the most turbulent chapters this country ever lived through, a group of faithful people organized the Liberty Missionary Baptist Church.

Now, that name, Liberty, you sit with it a moment. These were people who understood exactly what that word meant. Two years later, in 1868, the church was accepted into the Mt.

Zion Baptist Association, and just like that, Liberty wasn't standing alone anymore. It had kin. It had a wider family in the faith.

Then comes 1897, and the congregation does what growing, thriving communities do. They put up a new building, east of the original church and school, a little further down the road, a little bigger than before. By 1927 the church counted 68 members, which is a respectable number, a real number, people with names and faces and futures.

But hold on to your hat, because by 1945 that congregation had swelled to 159 souls. A record. The biggest the church had ever been.

And they didn't stop there. In 1949 and 1950, Liberty joined the Baptist Missionary Association on not just one level, but regional, state, and national. All three.

Then in 1952, weekly worship services began, a steady rhythm, week in and week out, year after year. Decades rolled by, and in 1991 an expanded modern facility replaced all those earlier structures, a whole new chapter built on top of every chapter that came before. What started as a single congregation in a Sugar Hill community in 1866 just kept on going, kept on growing, kept on reaching out.

That's not just history. That's a tradition that refuses to sit down.

What the marker says

Organized in the Sugar Hill community in 1866, the Liberty Missionary Baptist Church was accepted into the Mt. Zion Baptist Association in 1868. A new building was erected east of the original church and school in 1897. In 1927 the church had 68 members, and by 1945 the congregation reached a record 159. In 1949 and 1950 the church joined the Baptist Missionary Association on regional, state, and national levels; weekly worship services began in 1952. An expanded modern facility replaced earlier structures in 1991. The Liberty Missionary Baptist Church continues a proud tradition of religious worship and community outreach. (1998)