The group erected its first building on South Fulton Street in 1898, but built a new facility here in 1928. Services were held there in the winter and in a tent during the summer. Whitting before conducting services in a residence. Members first met in the South Union Church sanctuary under the Rev. Boyd, who was instrumental in establishing churches in Anderson County, to organize Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church. Several residents enlisted the help of the Rev. No church existed in the thriving community and it was sometimes difficult to travel for worship services. Following the Civil War, many African Americans moved here, working as laborers in shops and railyards. “I’m glad it’s being preserved because it’s the only thing we have left from the Tomoka Settlement.Marker Text: Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church organized in 1892 to serve residents of the area of Palestine known as South End. Strickland also is happy about the recent move. We just couldn’t take care of it anymore by ourselves,” she said. “The cemetery finally has a caretaker to make sure the grass is watered and cut. All of the people buried there now are listed on a computer, along with a diagram of the land. Since the sale was completed many improvements have already been made to the cemetery, said Miller. “I feel bad that they had to find another place to meet, but we she and her husband felt selling the property was the only thing to do to be able to maintain the cemetery where our ancestors are buried,” Miller said. John Leemkuil, assistant city manager, said an anonymous donation of $68,000 was received to pay the $6,500 cost of moving and restoring the structure and for a roof and steeple, and elaborate landscaping.Īlthough the Pilgrim’s Rest congregation drifted apart more than a year ago, another congregation had used the church until the church was sold. The property where the church stood until last week was sold and the building was donated to Ormond Beach as a museum and a meeting place. “They just thought ‘what is to be, will be,’ ” she said. Miller said their conservative beliefs coupled with the more liberal offerings of other churches might have spelled the end of the Pilgrim’s Rest church more than a year ago. Primitive Baptists believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible and that people should accept things the way they are. “I’m a member of the Central Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, but once a month I would take my mother to her church Pilgrim’s Rest,” she said. “Whatever was needed, we tried to provide,” said Miller, who for many years attended the monthly services and brought along extra food for a dinner that was held after the service. Years later her first husband died and she married George Miller, who helped her take care of the property. Beginning in 1953, Miller and her first husband became unofficial caretakers for the church and adjoining grounds. Soon after the church was moved to Ormond Beach, a cemetery with about 130 plots was added. “They put the church up on logs and just rolled it into town,” she said. Miller remembers hearing family stories about how mule teams were used to pull the church about a mile into Ormond Beach from Groover Creek. Historian Alice Strickland, 76, said the church supposedly was moved from the Tomoka River after parishioners resettled in Ormond Beach when the freeze of 1895 wiped out their citrus crops. Originally it was named the Groover Creek Primitive Baptist Church, after Alfred Groover, an early settler related to Miller’s ancestors. Longtime residents and old, yellowed newspaper clippings tell the history of Pilgrim’s Rest.
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