Antioch Baptist Church

OC-39

Antioch Baptist Church, the oldest black church in Middlesex County, was formed in 1866 by black members of white-led Clark’s Neck (later Saluda) Baptist Church. They acquired an acre of land just north of here in 1867 and added two more acres in 1881. Civil War soldiers are buried there. Antioch was one of four founding churches of the Southside Rappahannock Baptist Association and hosted its first meeting in 1877. An early black public school, Antioch School, was adjacent to the church. Two Antioch pastors, the Revs. R. E. Berkley and C. R. Towles, were founders of Baptist-run Rappahannock Industrial Academy in 1902; buildings there were named for them. Four churches came out of Antioch.

Department of Historic Resources, 2022

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Middlesex County Deed Book 27:143, 76:249. History of Antioch Baptist Church, 1866-1942 (Saluda, Va., 1942). “Antioch Baptist Church: A Compiled History, 1866-1977” (typescript, 1977). Sesquicentennial Celebration, 1866-2016. Catalogue of the Rappahannock Industrial Academy (1938-39). Southside Sentinel, 10 Sept. 1959. W. Edward Robinson, Historic Sketch of the Southside Rappahannock Baptist Association (Ozeana, Va., 1927). Samuel Mayo: Certificate of Death; Compiled Service Record Beverly Harris, Application for Headstones for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925-1941. The Centennial Journal Committee, A Pictorial History of the Southside Rappahannock Baptist Association and Allied Bodies (Southside Rappahannock Baptist Association, 1977). Tommy L. Bogger, Ph.D., A History of African-Americans in Middlesex County, 1646-1992 (White Stone, Va.: Nohill, Inc., 1994).