VA-W74 Liberty Baptist Church

Marker text: LIBERTY BAPTIST CHURCH

Liberty Church was organized in 1830 with 25 members led by Elder Thomas S. Morris. In 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention appointed Samuel Cornelius Clopton, son of the second pastor, Elder James Clopton, as its first missionary. The third pastor, Elder John "Parson" Turner, served without pay, 1837-1867. During Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Peninsual campaign of 1862, retreating Confederate soldiers destroyed the nearby bridge over Diascund Creek to slow the Federal advance on Richmond. Union forces rebuilt the bridge with floorboards and joists from the original church. For a century, church members were baptized in the creek. The present sanctuary was built in 1930.

Department of Historic Resources, 1999.