Visiting a Landmark Baptist Church

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Beech Island, South Carolina made news in the last couple of weeks because it's the hometown of James Brown. And since he died on Christmas Day last year, the town has been thinking about a museum for the late singer. That's why reporter Josh Levs was there, to unexpectedly come across a piece of local history. It turns out Beech Island is also the home to the nation's first and oldest black Baptist church.

JOSHUA LEVS: Every Sunday, about 125 people come to Silver Bluff Baptist Church, where the choir director fire up the crowd.

(Soundbite of music)

Unidentified Man #1 (Choir Director, Silver Bluff Baptist Church): If you're standing in the need of a blessing, understand of the need of a blessing, I see too may people sitting down. Stand (unintelligible) standing in the need of a blessing. There should be some evidence…

LEVS: Folks have been standing at Silver Bluff services here in Beech Island since before the Revolutionary War.

Reverend BENNIE HOLMES(Pastor, Silver Bluff Baptist Church): I am the 16th pastor in 256 years.

LEVS: That's Pastor Bennie Holmes. And if you're trying to do the math, it's an average of 16 years per pastor, though he's only been here eight years. Suffice it to say, pastors stay at Silver Bluff a long, long time. Holmes says that's partly because of the excitement of being a part of this place.

Rev. HOLMES: We had historians from across the country to authenticate that we are the mother of all black Baptist churches in America.

LEVS: South Carolina's assembly passed a resolution last year honoring Silver Bluff as the oldest black church in America, though Holmes declares it the oldest black Baptist church. It was founded in 1750 by two white Englishmen. Slave-owners began allowing their slaves to tag along to services but made them sit upstairs. Virginia Smith(ph), whose family has attended for generations, says the church's early days reflected an act of goodness by the slave-owners.

Ms. VIRGINIA SMITH: They had enough God in them to let the slaves come to church.

LEVS: It wasn't long before the blacks outnumbered the whites. The whites said, You can have this church, and they left. That started something of a chain reaction. Soon another black church was set up in nearby Augusta, Georgia. At one point, Silver Bluff lost its building, but the members kept holding services. Then it got a new spot, where it is today.

Rev. HOLMES: We were here since 1873. This is the original deed.

LEVS: The deed hangs alongside paintings of previous pastors, including two who are buried on the front lawn. The church is on a quiet road in this sleepy town. It's been rebuilt over the years. It has a tall, white steeple, but it's made mostly of red brick. Next door there's a small, white building used for Sunday school, a recreation of the two-room schoolhouse for blacks that used to be here. Virginia Smith attended that school when she was young. She's now 65 years old and still makes it to services each week.

Ms. SMITH: You might not see it. All these pews (unintelligible) full every Sunday. But we few that are here and the ones that come, we feel very proud and we come to serve the Lord.

Rev. HOLMES: To say that you have a sense of knowing that you are in the oldest church, it's a sensation that you can't explain.

Life is the will…

LEVS: Looking out across the red pews that embody so much history, Pastor Holmes says he's convinced Silver Bluff Baptist Church will be around forever and a day.

LEVS: For NPR News, I'm Joshua Levs.

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