Baptist church members, while clearing land for a parking lot, find a forgotten baptismal pool dating from 1828 and are now using it again.
(No word about what they'll do when winter comes.)
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=14459
1828 Baptismal pool uncovered
Discussion in '2000-02 Archive' started by rsr, Oct 16, 2002.
-
-
This is interesting! There's an old colored church not too far from me that still uses theirs.
-
Wow, interesting story. I didn't know they were pouring concrete in 1828!
My family's church for 5 generations - Smyrna Baptist Church near Mt. Enterprise, TX - had a baptismal pool of a similar nature. It was discovered sometime in the early 1970's and is near the original location of the first church - a log structure no longer in existence and about 5 miles from the present house or worship. The pool was down the hill from the place the the log church is thought to have been, near a creek. The members dug out a place around a spring (called Chinquapin Spring) and boarded it up with pine lumber. The lumber is still there. It is presently only a couple of feet deep, due to dirt and debris filling it in over the years. It was probably constructed shortly after the church was organized in 1873. BTW, several of the early members of Smyrna were from Georgia. -
Clint Kritzer Active MemberSite Supporter
http://matse1.mse.uiuc.edu/~tw/concrete/time.html
My church building (1824) covered over the original baptismal pool in the middle part of the last century but it still exists under the pulpit. Most folks are very surprised when they learn that it is there. -
Good point, rlvaughn. Although concrete is very ancient, its "modern" application is relatively recent.
I originally thought it might be "tabby:"
But if you click on the picture you get a close-up, and this looks very much like modern concrete.
A concrete-like substance was used on the Erie Canal in 1825:
http://www.carolinapumping.com/education/elementary/history_cement.html
Perhaps it was poured later and inscribed with the date of the the original church's founding?
Good catch.