Tates Creek Baptist Church facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Tates Creek Baptist Church
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 Location in Kentucky
Location in the United States
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| Nearest city | Richmond, Kentucky |
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| Area | 2.1 acres (0.85 ha) |
| Built | 1851 |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| MPS | Madison County MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 88003333 |
| Added to NRHP | February 8, 1989 |
The Tates Creek Baptist Church is a historic church located near Richmond, Kentucky. It was officially started in 1783. Before the current building, the church met in a stone building near a place called Shallow Ford. That first building burned down around 1850. The church you see today was finished in 1851.
Some people from the church were important in early Kentucky history. They helped with meetings in 1786 about making Kentucky a separate state from Virginia. The Tates Creek Baptist Church is so important that it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's recognized as a special historical place in the United States. The church is also part of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Meet Andrew Tribble, Early Pastor
The first pastor of Tates Creek Baptist Church was a man named Andrew Tribble. He was a good friend of Thomas Jefferson, who later became a president of the United States. Some people even think Tribble might have helped Jefferson think about his ideas for how a government should work.
Church historians say that Andrew Tribble came to Madison County from Virginia. He helped start the church between 1783 and 1785 and officially organized it in 1786.
Tribble was the pastor of Tates Creek Baptist Church for a long time, until 1819. He passed away in 1821 and is buried near the church.
There is a special monument to Andrew Tribble. It was put there by a group called the Baptist Church Preservation Society. This monument reminds us that Tribble and other Baptists faced difficulties in colonial Virginia. Back then, only members of the Anglican clergy were allowed to preach.
The preservation society also helped fix the old stone wall around Tribble's grave. A local historian named James Neale, who is a descendant of Tribble, shared this information.
How Baptists Influenced Founding Fathers
For a long time, people have said that Thomas Jefferson's ideas about democracy were shaped by Baptist churches, especially by Andrew Tribble. Even Calvin Coolidge, another U.S. president, mentioned this idea in a speech in 1926.
The earliest known story about this connection was written in 1826, shortly after Jefferson died. However, there is no direct proof, like letters, that show Tribble and Jefferson talked about these specific ideas.
Baptists often asked for more religious freedom because they were not allowed to preach freely. Important leaders like George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson listened to their requests. These ideas about freedom played a big part in a law about religious freedom that Jefferson wrote. Virginia adopted this law after the American colonies became independent from Great Britain.
When Andrew Tribble lived in Virginia, he was a pastor at a church near Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. Records show that Jefferson sometimes went to services at this church. At least once, he even attended a church business meeting.
About ten years before the American Revolution, Jefferson invited Tribble to his home for Sunday dinner. After dinner, Tribble asked Jefferson what he thought about the Baptist church's way of governing itself.
In Baptist churches at that time, all members, including men, women, and even children, had an equal vote on church matters.
Jefferson, who later wrote the Declaration of Independence, is said to have been very impressed. He supposedly called it "the only form of pure democracy that then existed in the world." He also thought it "would be the best plan of government for the American colonies."
According to stories passed down through the years, Tribble often talked about Jefferson in his sermons, as historian Ratliff mentioned.
