Mt. Moriah history, long ago and recent
BY MARY ALICE BEATYY CARMICHAEL
SPECIAL TO THE STANDARD
The Mt. Moriah Fellowship church was formed in 1828 in the general location it has today with the graves dating from 1828. They and the more recent buildings sit astride the Butler Wilcox county lines with the preacher preaching in Wilcox County and the congregation sitting in Butler. The area was settled with hardy, energetic, and aspiring pioneers from Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, other states, and a few people who moved from Monroe County (formed 1815) and Conecuh County (formed 1818), the “parent counties” of Butler County, which was formed in 1819. These people had come to settle in the new lands of Alabama. For many of them the lands they had inhabited in other areas, sometimes for generations, was diminishing in its productivity. The new lands in Alabama had great promises for a more abundant life.
The Committee members for the Homecoming Celebration in the 188th year since the founding of Mt. Moriah Fellowship Baptist Church include Hal and Virginia Grimes, Harold and Lynn Grimes, Julian Steen, and Don and Mary Charles Donald of Pine Apple; Myralyn Watson of Greenville; Steve and Barbara Davison of Monterey; Jerry Wood of Equality; Hugh Dudley, and Robbie Dudley Klemm of Huntsville; Martha Grimes Lampkin, Brooks Lampkin, and Ginny Lampkin of Montgomery; Robert Steen of Grove Hill; Don Carmichael Jr. of Chelsea; Phoebe Robinson and Rob Robinson of Columbiana; Jennifer Ellis of Baton Rouge; Tom Donald, Grey Till, Beatty Carmichael, Donny Donald, Troy Carmichael and Donald and Mary Alice Carmichael of Birmingham.
Pictured are the Yeldell Yellers who played for the homecoming celebration at Mt. Moriah. From left to right: Rob Robinson, Lloyd Stickland, Dana Stickland, Jennifer Ellis and Don Carmichael. (Submitted)
