Mt Vernon First Baptist Church


 

        Located at 5 Pinson Street, Mount Vernon First Baptist Church is one of the oldest churches in Chalk Level, and one of its first deacons was A. R. Burch. He is the father of Charlie Burch, whose 1869 tombstone was found at Farmer Street Cemetery. It is surmised that since Mt Vernon does not have a cemetery on its grounds, its members interred deceased loves ones into Newnan's Colored Cemetery, known as Farmer Street Cemetery today, until the cemetery closed in 1 Dec 1894 and Eastview Cemetery opened.

        In 1959, A.D. King, brother to Martin Luther King, Jr came to pastor at Mt Vernon First Baptist and would preach there for 4 years. During that time, on 12 April 1959, Martin Luther King Jr preached a sermon at Mt Vernon.

https://times-herald.com/news/2020/03/newnan-chapel-umc-mount-vernon-baptist-oldest-african-american-congregations-in-coweta

https://times-herald.com/news/2017/02/mlks-brother-was-pastor-in-newnan

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/king-preaches-d-kings-mount-vernon-first-baptist-church-newnan


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