DUANE
Duane's take
The way I tell it, I'm drawing straight from the official marker for Stony Point Church and Cemetery up in Collin County — so let's let the stone do the talking. Now, if you drove through this part of Collin County back in the 1870s and 1880s, you'd have found yourself in the middle of something alive. Stony Point was a genuine, thriving agricultural community — cotton gin, general store, gristmill, molasses mill, school.
The whole apparatus of a place that intended to stick around. And on August 17, 1878, the people of that community gathered and formed the Stony Point Baptist Church. Just like that, a congregation with roots as deep as the cotton rows stretching out around it.
Five years on, two men — A.J. Scribner and R.N. Coffey — donated land to that church.
Land that would eventually become part of the burial ground. Then in 1887, J.C. and Elizabeth Price deeded property for the first sanctuary. A proper house of worship, built to last.
Except the sky had other plans. In 1926, lightning struck and destroyed that first sanctuary. What lightning takes, though, a community can rebuild — and they did, raising a smaller structure that was dedicated in 1938.
Now, the cemetery alongside that church tells its own quiet story. The earliest grave there belongs to the infant son of W.M. Wilson, who died in 1880 — before the church had even acquired the site.
That child was laid to rest in ground that wouldn't officially belong to the congregation for years yet to come. Other graves hold pioneer settlers, leaders of the church, leaders of the community. In 1938, the same year that new sanctuary was dedicated, control of the burial site passed to the Stony Point Cemetery Association.
But here's what sets Stony Point Baptist apart from just being a neighborhood church: it reached. By ordaining early ministers and helping form churches in the nearby settlements of Verona, Altoga, Valdasta, and White Rock, Stony Point had what the marker calls — and I think it earns the word — a dramatic impact on the region. It kept on playing that vital role until the late 1950s, when the area's declining population finally brought the congregation to a close.
The doors shut. The community that had built a cotton gin and a gristmill and a molasses mill and a school had thinned out until the pews sat empty. But that sanctuary?
It's still standing. Still used for funerals. Still filled once a year for the annual decoration day services.
A building that survived lightning, outlasted a congregation, and keeps showing up when the people of this place need somewhere to gather and remember. Stony Point. It intended to stick around — and in its own way, it did.
What the marker says
In the 1870s and 1880s the pioneer settlement of Stony Point was a thriving agricultural community with a cotton gin, general store, gristmill, molasses mill and school. On August 17, 1878, area residents formed the Stony Point Baptist Church. Five years later A.J. Scribner and R.N. Coffey donated land to the church which now comprises part of the burial ground. In 1887 J.C. and Elizabeth Price deeded property for the first sanctuary. Destroyed by lightning in 1926, it was replaced by a smaller structure dedicated in 1938. The earliest grave in the cemetery, that of W.M. Wilson's infant son who died in 1880, predates the church's acquisition of the site. Other graves include those of pioneer settlers and leaders of the church and community. In 1938 control of the burial site was transferred to the Stony Point Cemetery Association. By ordaining early ministers and by helping with the formation of churches in the nearby settlements of Verona, Altoga, Valdasta and White Rock, Stony Point Baptist Church had a dramatic impact on the region. It continued to play a vital role until it closed in the late 1950s as a result of the area's declining population. The sanctuary is still used for funerals and for the annual decoration day services. (1982)