Smyrna Baptist Church

Elder Nelson Porterfield, the first pastor, was born in Madison County, Georgia, in 1815, according to a Cass County Genealogical Society article drawn from the history of Sweetwater Baptist Church. He ministered at Sweetwater in Cherokee County, Georgia, in 1851, and in October 1855 its minutes granted him and twelve others dismissions to move. He settled first near Bright Star in Miller County, Arkansas, then west of Bloomburg in Cass County. The article credits him with helping organize Macedonia in Arkansas and Linden, Salem, Courtland and Queen City churches, and four Baptist associations.

What the plaque says

Smyrna Baptist Church On August 9, 1882, ten pioneer settlers of the rural Smyrna community met to organize this fellowship, originally known as the Smyrna Baptist Church of Christ. The charter meeting was directed by Elder Nelson Porterfield (1816-1906), a Georgia native and a pioneer Baptist missionary in Texas and Arkansas who served as the first pastor. Early worship services were held in a log schoolhouse (.25 mi. SW). The first sanctuary was built west of here in 1885 on land purchased from J. W. Hughes. In 1900 the church acquired this tract and the nearby cemetery, the burial site of many early area pioneers. New church facilities were constructed at this site in 1907. Later sanctuaries were completed in 1941 and 1977. Throughout its history, the Smyrna Baptist Church has experienced steady growth under the direction of many prominent preachers. In addition, the church has also ordained and licensed several ministers. Since 1882 the Smyrna Baptist Church has served as the focal point of the surrounding rural community. The church's facilities have been used for various civic and school functions and its members, including descendants of pioneer area residents, have played vital roles in the region's development. (1982)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Atlanta State Park — 14 mi
  A shoreline park on Wright Patman Lake, leased from the Army in 1954, where Caddo ancestors farmed the Sulphur River and wagon traces such as the Bobo Ferry trace still cross the woods.
• Museum of Regional History — 24 mi
  Texarkana's oldest museum, in an 1879 brick building on State Line Avenue, with Caddo pottery, one of Scott Joplin's pianos and a research library of city directories and photographs.
• Excelsior House Hotel — 27 mi
  A brick-and-timber hotel at 211 West Austin that began as a river captain's boarding house in 1858 and was revived by a garden club in 1959, and still takes guests with rosewood furniture.
• Jefferson Historical Museum — 27 mi
  A four-floor museum in Jefferson's 1888-90 federal post office and courthouse, with rooms for African-American history, Jewish heritage, the Caddo and Diamond Bessie, bought by the historical society in 1965 for $8,100.

More markers nearby

• Bessie Coleman — 5.3 mi
• Atlanta-Miller Grade School — 5.4 mi
• Cass County — 11 mi
• Whittaker Memorial Cemetery — 16 mi