Red Lick Baptist Church in Red Lick, Mississippi

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During one of my road trips through rural parts of west Mississippi I took HWY 552 and came across the Red Lick Baptist Church in Red Lick, Mississippi and just had to stop and take a closer look. This old church is also known as the Red Brick Church.

Red Lick Baptist Church in Red Lick, Mississippi – History

I won’t go into much detail about its history, but for a more of a complete history of the church, you can read the article over at First Presbyterian Church of Port Gibson.

The church was organized in 1845 with the cornerstone being laid in 1846 with the dedication by Revs Zebulon Butler and S.S. Templeton. It is said that the builder burned the bricks for the 43 x 30 foot building.  The Church then built the manse in 1855. But eventually it was rented and sold off.

The last resident preacher, Rev. Daniel S. Baker. left in 1863. Its said that “after the battle of Port Gibson he turned Radical and left – not saying good-bye to anyone of his old friends, or congregation.”

The years were not kind to the surrounding area, as the community started to decline so did the congregation. By 1977 the congregation only had 4 members remaining. The sole surviving elder gave permission for the Red Lick Baptist Church to use their building. On June 18, 1978, the membership was transferred to the First Presbyterian Church of Port Gibson.

From my understanding, currently the Presbyterians still own the church and lease the building and the land to the Baptist Church. The building next to the church is the Fellowship Hall and was built and owned by the Baptist Church. The Baptist Church has had this agreement in place since the Presbyterians left Red Lick.

My Visit to the Red Lick Baptist Church

Finding Red Lick Baptist Church was more luck than anything. Since this stop wasn’t scheduled I didn’t stay long. I only had the chance to visit the oldest of the three cemeteries on church grounds. That cemetery plot is mostly full of the Spencer family. Its in pretty bad shape and overgrown. The handful of headstones I could find were at odd angles and the others were covered by brush.

When I have the time and I am in the area, I plan on photographing the church and cemeteries again. I am curious as to what the inside of the church looks like and hope to have the chance to photograph the interior.

About the Images

The image was shot by hand on a cloudy day. I used my Sony a6000 and a Sony SEL16F28 16mm f/2.8 lens for this shot. I then edited the image in Adobe Lightroom CC. I used Topaz Labs A.I. Clear and DXO NIK Collection to clean up the image, remove noise, and recover the lost details.