Members of Antioch Baptist Church in Saluda gathered with state and county officials on Saturday to dedicate a state highway marker commemorating the church’s 158-year history.
Bessida Cauthorne White, chair of the marker research team and dedication planning committee, welcomed guests, and Don R. Harris, chairman of the Middlesex County Board of Supervisors, gave greetings. LaToya Gray-Sparks, community outreach coordinator for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, provided information about the Historical Marker Program. Sparks also thanked White for her “commitment to telling the whole story of Virginia’s past.”
Keynote speaker the Rev. Dr. Leonard L. Edloe, pastor of New Hope Fellowship in Hartfield, spoke of the many changes that have occurred since the church’s founding in 1866, when black churches were not allowed to have black preachers and “a lot of sermons were about being a good slave.”
He spoke of “very dark days,” including “the dark nights of the KKK” and the Gre...
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