Smyrna Baptist Church

Smyrna grew from Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, which disbanded before 1873. Mt. Zion Baptist Association minutes list eight Black members at Mt. Carmel in 1866, and in March 1868 the church agreed to hold separate preaching for them on the first Sunday of each month. R. L. Vaughn notes that the reason for disbanding is unknown; he lists a dispute among several families, an unfulfilled search for a permanent meeting place and the withdrawal of Black families as possibilities. Former members organized Smyrna less than two years later, with John Sparkman as its first pastor.

What the plaque says

Smyrna Baptist Church This congregation grew from the pioneer Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, which was organized in 1858. On August 16, 1873, following the earlier dissolution of Mt. Carmel, several former members and area residents attended a meeting at Chinquapin Spring which resulted in formation of the Smyrna Baptist Church. Early facilities at Chinquapin Spring and Redland were shared with local Methodists. A separate sanctuary was constructed here in 1907. Since the organization of Smyrna Baptist Church in 1873, the congregation has been a member of the Mt. Zion Association. (1981)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• New London Museum and Cenotaph — 23 mi
  A volunteer-run museum beside the pink granite cenotaph for the March 1937 school gas explosion, holding a model of the school, a blackboard from that day and an odorizer device.
• Tex Ritter Museum and Texas Country Music Hall of Fame — 29 mi
  Carthage's country music museum, with Tex Ritter's boots, guitars and saddles in a room styled like a movie theater, and exhibits on other Texas stars, Jim Reeves among them.
• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 33 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.

More markers nearby

• Glenfawn Cemetery — 6.1 mi
• Monte Verdi Family Slaves — 6.9 mi
• Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church & Cemetery — 8.5 mi
• Brachfield — 9.7 mi