Pilgrim Presbyterian Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, out in Gonzales County. Now, before you can understand this church, you have to understand the name on the door. The settlement of Pilgrim was named in honor of Thomas J.

Pilgrim, a noted area educator who had received a Republic of Texas land grant right here in 1838. So the land itself carried a name, and that name carried weight. Fast forward to 1881.

The pioneer community had grown enough that residents decided they needed something more than scattered faith. They established a Union Sunday School in a nearby schoolhouse, about a mile and a half to the south. Now here's the thing worth savoring: the early members of that congregation didn't come from one tradition.

They came from the Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, and Quaker faiths. Different hymnbooks, different habits, same schoolhouse. That kind of arrangement takes a certain Texas practicality to pull off.

Two years on, things got more formal. On November 23, 1883, several of those Union Church members gathered and formed this congregation under the direction of the Reverend J. J.

Hodges of Wrightsboro. It began as a Cumberland Presbyterian Fellowship, and they gave it the congregational name of Pilgrim Lake. It became an early member of the Guadalupe Presbytery of San Antonio and Austin, which is to say it wasn't out here alone, even if the land around it sure felt that way.

Then came the building. In 1886 a sanctuary went up right here, on land donated by a man named Crawford Burnett. Church members didn't raise it alone.

Local residents pitched in on the construction and the furnishing both. When it was done, that building became the site of many early camp meetings and summer revivals. You can almost hear the singing carrying out across the flat Gonzales County ground.

The population around Pilgrim has declined over the years. That's just the honest truth of rural Texas. But the Pilgrim Presbyterian Church has remained active through all of it.

It stands now as a focal point of the surrounding rural region, and as a reminder of the pioneer settlers whose descendants still live here. A land grant, a union of strangers, a donated patch of ground, and one November day in 1883. That's what it took to build something that's still standing.

What the marker says

The early Gonzales County settlement of Pilgrim was named in honor of Thomas J. Pilgrim, a noted area educator who had received a Republic of Texas land grant here in 1838. In 1881 residents of the pioneer community established a Union Sunday School in a nearby schoolhouse (1.5 miles S). Early members of the congregation represented the Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist and Quaker faiths. On November 23, 1883, several Union Church members formed this congregation under the direction of the Rev. J. J. Hodges of Wrightsboro. Begun as a Cumberland Presbyterian Fellowship with the congregational name of Pilgrim Lake, it was an early member of the Guadalupe Presbytery of San Antonio and Austin. A sanctuary was built here in 1886 on land donated by Crawford Burnett. Church members were assisted by local residents in construction and furnishing the building, which became the site of many early camp meetings and summer revivals. Despite a declining area population, the Pilgrim Presbyterian Church has remained active and now serves as a focal point of the surrounding rural region and as a reminder of the pioneer settlers whose descendants still live here.