Union Springs Baptist Church

Duane's take

Well, here's my telling of what the official marker has to say, and this one goes back a good long ways. We're talking about Union Springs Baptist Church, out in Polk County, and the story starts in the 1860s. Seven families.

That's all there was. The first seven families in the whole area got together and said, we are going to organize a church. And that's exactly what they did.

Brother Jimmy Knox stepped up as the first pastor, and what they built together was something you don't see anymore. A pegged log cabin church. Not nailed together, not bolted, pegged.

The roof was hand-riven board, split and shaped by hand. The floors were split logs. The seats were split logs.

Everything you sat on, walked on, looked at, came from timber worked by hand. And when the cold came in through Polk County, there was exactly one fireplace standing between that congregation and the elements. Now, you think about sitting on a split-log seat in the middle of winter with one fireplace doing its level best for the whole room.

That's not just worship, that's commitment. Time moved on, the way it does, and in 1885 a more modern building went up. Then again in 1955, another one.

But it all traces back to those seven families, Brother Jimmy Knox, and a pegged log cabin that was heated by nothing but fire and faith.

What the marker says

Organized in 1860s by first seven families in area. Brother Jimmy Knox was first pastor. Original pegged log cabin church, heated by a fireplace, had hand-riven board roof, split-log floors, seats. More modern buildings erected 1885 and 1955.