Updates and Links to My Posts on Yellow River Baptist Church

For any of you who have followed me for any length of time, you know one of my favorite subjects to discuss is Yellow River Baptist Church, in the very northern part of Okaloosa County, FL, nestled near the banks of the river by the same name. The church was founded in June of 1840, with one of my ancestors, Mary Faircloth Senterfitt, listed on the founding document. Throughout the church’s 180 years, I’ve had at least one ancestor, and usually several, who attended the church and occasionally served the church as clerk or deacon.

This may be a Sunday School class or possibly a summer church program. The man to the far right below the flag is William Franklin King. He is young enough in the picture that the building may be the side of the log cabin that served as the church at the original location and built in the 1880s.

Yellow River is the third oldest Baptist Church in the panhandle and the oldest in the 4 northwestern most counties in the panhandle. You need only drive to the church to feel you are moving back in time. Exit your car and you can hear the gentle singing of the pine trees, and likely a few of the saints who have passed on and whose graves are scattered among the three cemeteries within walking distance of the church. If COVID-19 allows, the church is planning homecoming in 2021. Always the second Sunday in June.

Yellow River Missionary Baptist Church membership around 1917. This appears to be the Oak Grove Schoolhouse that the church used during the period they were building the two-story church at the current location. Taken from the Laurel Hill newspaper from the time period.

Below are the posts I’ve done over the last 4 years on the church. I am also working on a history of the church that is a part of my book on Oak Grove, the little farming community that surrounds the church. It is nearly impossible to separate Yellow River Baptist Church from Oak Grove so you will likely see a post in both this blog and the next one on Oak Grove. You will also see one or two here that was in the compiled blogs on the 1^st Florida Union Cavalry. History can be a tangled web. Enjoy and be safe this holiday season. Please wear your mask to protect your family and yourself. So none of you become ancestors too early.