Old Brick Cemetery
Colbert County, Alabama; Leighton, Alabama; Old Brick Cemetery; Old Brick Presbyterian Church; Cemeteries
The origins of Leighton's Old Brick Presbyterian Church can be traced back to 1812, when traveling minister Carson P. Reed staged a two-week revival in the Brick community. 45 men baptized during the revival were inspired to establish a congregation of their own, with Reed as preacher, and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was born. Nearly a century later, in the early 1900s, a split within the congregation led to the departure of one faction (which formed the nearby Mt. Pleasant Cumberland Presbyterian Church), and a switch to the "Old Brick" name still in use today.
To reach the Old Brick church and cemetery from AL-157 in Muscle Shoals, head east on River Road and turn right onto County Line Road. After one mile, turn left onto Mount Pleasant Road, and look for the cemetery on the right.
See the RootsWeb source below for a complete list of burials.
Brian Corrigan, University of North Alabama
"Old Brick Church Cemetery," RootsWeb, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maury/AlabamaCemeteriesWeb/ColbertCounty/OldBrickChurchCem/Old_Brick_Church_Cem_Listing.htm (accessed November 20, 2015).
Alabama Cultural Resource Survey
November 21, 2015
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Mt. Pleasant Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery
Colbert County, Alabama; Mount Pleasant Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery; Mount Pleasant Cumberland Presbyterian Church; Old Brick Presbyterian Church; Cemeteries
Mt. Cumberland Presbyterian Church was established by a faction which split from nearby Old Brick Presbyterian Church. The earliest burial in the cemetery is Josephine "Josie" Davidson Kerby (1870-1916). The RootsWeb source linked below contains a complete list of burials.
To reach the Mt. Cumberland Presbyterian Church and cemetery from AL-157 in Muscle Shoals, head east on River Road and turn right onto County Line Road. After one mile, the church and cemetery are on the right.
Brian Corrigan, University of North Alabama
"Mt. Pleasant Cumberland Prebyterian Church Cemetery," RootsWeb, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maury/AlabamaCemeteriesWeb/ColbertCounty/MtPleasantCPChurchCem/MtPleasantCumb.PresbyterianChurchyardCemListingFAG.htm (accessed December 5, 2015).
Alabama Cultural Resource Survey
November 21, 2015
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Old Brick Presbyterian Church
Colbert County, Alabama; Leighton, Alabama; Old Brick Presbyterian Church; Architecture; Churches; National Register of Historic Places; Historic American Buildings Survey
According to church tradition, Leighton's Old Brick Presbyterian Church building was constructed in 1828, although architectural evidence suggests a later date during the 1830s or 1840s. Its distinctive, kiln-fired exterior bricks and sun-dried interior bricks were drawn from a pit still visible today near the church's southwest corner, and may be the products of slave labor. The church's interior, meanwhile, retains its original plaster walls and hand-crafted pews, divided down the middle to establish separate seating for male and female congregants. The original slave gallery also remains intact, reflecting the further segregation of worshippers among racial lines.
In addition to its enforcement of race and gender norms through segregated seating, the church played "an important judicial role" in rural Bricksville by "policing... moral standards." Members accused of sins were called before the congregation and given a choice: confess or be "removed from the church."
The origins of the Old Brick church can be traced back to 1812, when traveling minister Carson P. Reed staged a two-week revival in the Brick community. 45 men baptized during the revival were inspired to establish a congregation of their own, with Reed as preacher, and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was born. Nearly a century later, in the early 1900s, a split within the congregation led to the departure of one faction (which formed the nearby Mt. Pleasant Cumberland Presbyterian Church), and a switch to the "Old Brick" name still in use today.
Brian Corrigan, University of North Alabama
National Register of Historic Places, Old Brick Presbyterian Church, Leighton, Colbert County, Alabama, National Register #88003078.
Alabama Cultural Resource Survey
November 10, 2015
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