Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Cades Cove Subdistrict, National Park Service

Hasty, David; Wheeler, Beth; Fogelquist, Sara

The Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery is a .6-acre component landscape of the Cades Cove Landscape, located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of Eastern Tennessee. The site is located along the Cades Cove Loop Road that circumnavigates the valley, south of the intersection with Rich Mountain Road. The landscape features a church and cemetery, the latter of which is bounded by cable-wire fencing. A footpath that provides access to the site connects with the circulation system around the cemetery. One of the earliest symbols of community in a typical cove settlement was the establishment of churches. Like other churches and farms of Cades Cove, the Missionary Baptist Church serves as a significant resource related to the early settlement and ongoing evolution of a southern Appalachian farming community. It is also a significant example of the vernacular architecture of community structures in the region. The establishment of the Missionary Baptist Church in Cades Cove was a product of a division in the American Baptist denomination known as the Anti-Mission Split. Occurring in East Tennessee between the years 1825-1845 and escalating to its climax in 1837-38, thirteen members of the Cades Cove Baptist Church, including the pastor, were dismissed due to their support of missions. In May 1839, these individuals would become the founding members of the Missionary Baptist Church. The Missionaries did not gain widespread support, and the congregation consisted of fewer than twenty until the Civil War. There were long periods when no services were held, and the church closed from October 1862-1865 on account of the war. After a nine-year span without services (1880-1889), a successful revival held by Thomas Sexton increased church membership and allowed the congregation to construct its own meeting house in 1894. Until this time, they had been using the Methodist or Primitive Baptist Church. In 1915, regarded as the start of the period of significance, the church was moved to the present site from its original location on Hyatt Hill. The Missionary Baptist Church is a front-gable frame church with a pyramidal bell tower. Other existing historical features at the site include a cemetery, headstones, and biotic remnants. The period of significance extends to 1942 to include the Park Development Era improvements. The NPS decided to make Cades Cove an "Outdoor Museum of Mountain Culture," focusing on the "pioneer" stage of development. Since the churches located in the cove were of frame construction, they were scheduled for removal, but the congregations agreed to maintain them at their own expense. A Special Use Permit for the Missionary Baptist Church was in effect until 1988, at which time the park assumed maintenance and preservation responsibilities. The circulation system around the cemetery was rehabilitated in 1991 to correct erosion problems and to keep visitors off the graves, and it does not reflect any historic configuration. The area the church and cemetery is a cleared open space, planted with grass. The forest surrounding the church and cemetery consists predominantly of hemlock, white pine, and white oak.

Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Cades Cove Subdistrict, National Park Service

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