DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some churches have a way of outlasting everything around them — the towns, the oil booms, the people who built them. Old Rock Baptist Church out near Somerset is one of those.
It started life with a different name entirely. Organized as Medina Baptist Church in April of 1857, way up at Mann's Crossing, near Macdona. No building, no permanence yet — just people gathering in homes and schoolhouses, making do the way settlers did.
That went on until 1866, when the members built an arbor here near Old Somerset. An arbor. Four posts and a roof, probably, but it was theirs.
The real commitment came the following year. In 1867, committeemen F. M.
Avent, Elisha A. Briggs, and W. D.
Johnson put ten dollars on the table and bought two and a half acres — site for a meetinghouse and a cemetery both. Ten dollars. Those three men also drew the plans themselves.
And then there was Briggs — a settler who'd come all the way down from Massachusetts, and he happened to be a stonemason. He did much of the construction, which tells you something about how that building was going to be built: solid, in stone, meant to last. They started worshippin' here in 1869.
Now, I want you to hear this clearly — they started worshippin' here in 1869 as soon as the house had a roof and walls. The door spaces were open. The window spaces were open.
There was no floor except bare ground. That was enough. Four ordained ministers took turns in the pulpit, unpaid, rotatin' the responsibility.
Avent served as clerk and sexton. They made it work. And here is something the marker does not let pass without saying: Medina Church's membership was racially integrated.
Some of those Negro members lie buried in honored graves in the cemetery on those same two and a half acres. The marker says it plainly, and so will I. In 1892, Medina Church relocated to Bexar.
But the cemetery stayed. The old stone building stayed. And folks kept it up — used it at times for funerals or worship, kept the grounds maintained, kept the memory alive.
The building just sat there in the Texas hills, patient as stone tends to be. Then came 1921. Local petroleum discoveries had stirred things up in the area, and Grayburg Oil Company, along with some of its employees, helped renovate the meetinghouse.
New energy, new resources — and the congregation, seizing the moment, renamed itself for the building that had stood through all of it. They called themselves the Old Rock Church. And regular worship has continued there ever since.
Sometimes the building outlasts the story people thought they were tellin'. Started as Medina Baptist at Mann's Crossing in 1857, built in stone by a Massachusetts mason on two and a half acres bought for ten dollars, opened to the sky before it was finished — and still standing, still in use, still holding its ground out near Old Somerset. That old rock knew something the rest of us are still figurin' out.
What the marker says
Organized as Medina Baptist Church in April 1857 at Mann's Crossing, near Macdona. Until 1866, when members built an arbor here near Old Somerset, the services were held in homes or in a schoolhouse. Site for meetinghouse and cemetery (2.5 acres here) was bought for ten dollars in 1867 by committeemen F. M. Avent, Elisha A. Briggs, and W. D. Johnson on behalf of Medina Church. This committee also drew the plans; Briggs, a settler from Massachusetts and a stonemason, did much of the construction. Worship began here in 1869 as soon as house had roof and walls--although door and window spaces were empty and there was no floor except bare ground. In those early days, four ordained ministers took turns as unpaid pastors. Avent was clerk and sexton. Medina Church membership was racially integrated. Some of the Negro members lie buried in honored graves in the cemetery. In 1892 Medina Church relocated at Bexar. Cemetery maintenance was continued here; "Old Rock" was used at times for funerals or worship. In 1921, after local petroleum discoveries, Grayburg Oil Company and some of its employees helped renovate the meetinghouse. Congregation renamed itself for the Old Rock Church and regular worship has continued here ever since. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1971