Cartledge Creek Baptist Church.
J.A. Bolton
RICHMOND COUNTY — In 1769 Col. Thomas Dockery, Sr. and his family came to what is now Richmond County from Queen Anne’s County, Maryland. At that time this area was part of Anson County.
Col. Dockery built his home about 350 yards east of the present Cartledge Creek Baptist Church. He invited all his friends and neighbors to his home for worship on Sunday mornings since there were no churches nearby. The people in the area started referring to this as Dockery’s Meeting House. In November of 1774 the group who had been worshipping together there organized a Baptist Church which eventually became known as Cartledge Creek Baptist Church.
Cartledge Creek Baptist Church got its name from a landowner, Edmund Cartledge, who had a land grant No. 1323 dated September 27, 1756. In 1758 Cartledge sold part of that tract of land to William Blewitt for 100 pounds. Later Thomas Dockery owned the tract where Cartledge Creek Baptist Church now stands.
One special event in the life of the church took place In 1833 when the Baptist State Convention was held at CCBC. The Convention attendees discussed the forming of a new institute which was first called Wake Forest Institute and is now known as Wake Forest University.
Over the years many people have come and gone and lots of changes have taken place including additions to the building. There are also at least three churches which came out of CCBC. Lots of people can trace their families back as attendees at one time or another but through it all God has continued to be faithful to this little country church.
On Sunday November 10, 2024 CCBC held its 250th Anniversary Celebration with approximately 200 current members, former members, visitors and guests present, including Tony Cartledge who is a descendant of Edmund Cartledge.
The service was opened with a video which honored past and present veterans to celebrate Veterans Day on Nov. 11.
Doug Williams, Chairman of the Historical Committee then gave a brief history of the church and followed that with the reading of special congratulatory letters from N.C. Governor Roy Cooper and US Senator Thom Tillis which he then presented to the pastor Rev. Jason Lutz.
The guest speaker for the morning worship service was Todd Unzicker, Executive Director-Treasurer of the Baptist State Convention of N.C.
After the worship service was over the celebration continued with a delicious, covered dish lunch with lots of great food and fellowship. During this time there was also a cake cutting of a very special cake which featured a picture of the church as it appears today. Pens with the church logo were available as a memento of the day as well as a book about the church history from 1974 to 2024 which contains contributions from many current church members.
A good ole gospel singing was held at 2:00 which featured special guests The Cameronian Boys. Their wonderful messages in the song were a great inspiration to all of those who were in attendance.
It was a great day as attendees celebrated 250 years of God’s faithfulness to Cartledge Creek Baptist Church.
Azalea R. Bolton is author of “Days of Yore” and co-author of “Just Passing Time Together” both of which can be purchased on Amazon or can be purchased locally.