Pine Ridge Primitive Baptist Church

Location

6305 Pine Hall Road
Walnut Cove, NC 27052
(Forsyth County, North Carolina)

History

The following history of Pine Ridge Primitive Baptist Church is provided by James R. Tuttle, Clerk, Trustee and Treasurer for the church.

March 22, 1897, J.K.P. Carter and Phoeba A. Carter, his wife, voluntary executed a deed for the property located at the corner of Brinkley Road and Pine Hall Road to the trustees of the Primitive Baptist Religious Society of Forsyth County to build a church. The deed states that the church would be called Pine Ridge Primitive Baptist Church. According to some of the old timers, they have stated that the church was referred to as Pine Ridge Meeting House.

There are no existing records for the church between 1897 and 1947. The records were destroyed in a house fire at the home of Augusta Mabe, church clerk in 1947. The first recorded meeting after the fire took place the first Sunday in November 1947 according to the minutes provided by Augusta Mabe, Clerk.

Pine Ridge Primitive Baptist Church was a member of the Mayo River Primitive Baptist Association which included a number of churches that still exist today. Our first records show that in April 1948 messengers were appointed to attend the association held at Little Flock Primitive Baptist Church located in Amelia, Virginia to be held May of 1948. The messengers were to ask for the association to be held at Pine Ridge Primitive Baptist Church in May 1949. Messengers appointed to the association were Elder G. W. Wood, Pastor, Augusta Mabe, Clerk and Brother W. L. Abbott. In March of 1956, the church voted to send a letter for withdrawal from the Mayo River Primitive Baptist Association.

The church had a membership in 1947 of thirty nine members. Fifteen of the membership was male and twenty four of the membership was female.

In November of 1953, the church voted to see how much money that the membership could raise to remodel and increase the size of the church to seat approximately 400 people. According to church records, the membership raised funds and the trustees of the church obtained a loan in April of 1954 in the amount of sixteen hundred dollars ($1,600.00) that was paid in full February 06, 1956. In the year 1965, the church was updated including heat and air conditioning.

The church continued to grow over the years. In the late seventies, we began to see a decline in attendance as a large number of the membership became elderly and unable to attend. We were not able to increase the attendance of any age group.

Due to health and financial issues, the church members voted to close its doors April 22, 2018.

The church cemetery will remain Pine Ridge Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery and will be maintained for future years. Burial plots will be sold to maintain cemetery as well as donations.