Click image to enlarge. As settlers moved into the newly opened lands of the Alabama frontier, they brought with them the institutions and traditions that had sustained them in their former homes—including, for many of them, their religious traditions. In addition to fostering a relationship with God, churches became instrumental tools for building communities and a sense of kinship, easing the sense of loss of loved ones left behind.
In November 1838 a group of settlers in southern Sumter County gathered at a plot of land owned by the Knox family, establishing the Elizabeth Presbyterian church. Seven years later, the congregation moved its church nearer to the town of Gaston, a bustling little village that was more centrally located for the membership. In 1858, due to the congregation’s growth, the members replaced the original log structure with a wooden frame, two-story structure. Ruined churches populate the Alabama landscape as reminders of the rural roots of those who moved on to larger cities. Elizabeth Presbyterian Church, a building where generations of Alabamians gathered to celebrate life and mourn loss, is just one of many such structures that deserves a spot on this year’s Places in Peril list.
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