St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery Traditional Cache
Vertighost: Since there has been no response by the cache owner within the time frame requested in the last reviewer note, I have archived this cache. Please note that caches that have been archived for maintenance issues or lack of cache owner communication are not eligible to be unarchived.
St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery
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I found this location while driving down Bell Bottom Rd. The church and Historic Marker and Bell Bottom History House are located on one side of the road and the cemetery is located on the other side of the road. It is really beautiful out here.
You will be looking for a small lock-n-lock container sitting in plain sight. There is room for small SWAG or TBs. I am hoping Muggles will not notice it and that it will rest here for years to come. Take the time to visit and reflect. Please be respectful of the area. Be kind to each other and Safe Travels and Cache On! HISTORY: The rural community of Bell Bottom located in southeastern Matagorda County is in the Moses Morrison and William Cooper Leagues. It is in this picturesque setting where the massive coastal live oak trees line the banks of historic Caney Creek and where St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church was established in 1889 and later a burial ground was plotted. Almost all of the founding members can trace their roots to the days of slavery and the plantation life that thrived along this navigable creek. Before the first permanent Anglo settlers arrived in 1822, this area near the Gulf of Mexico was inhabited by the roaming Karankawa Indians. The new settlers, twenty-two in all, part of Stephen F. Austin’s “Old 300” received land grants in 1824. Beside the winding Caney Creek, where this bottom land consists of sandy black-peach soil, they begin their daunting task of clearing the cane brakes to meet the obligations set by the grant contracts. Not only did they have to deal with the elements they had constant skirmishes with the indigenous Indians. After William Cooper’s son was killed in November 1830, Moses Morrison became commander of a scouting party composed of ten men to control the Karankawas. And in 1850, Moses Morrison sold his land to John Henry Jones, Sr. for $3,480. The region was described by Stephen F. Austin “as good in every respect as man could wish for, land first rate, plenty of timber, fine water, beautifully rolling.” The rich Caney Creek bottoms were perfectly suited to the American plantation economy, and by the 1850s, 75 percent of the population of Matagorda County consisted of slaves. Prior to the Civil War, plantation masters usually allowed their slaves to hold religious services. They worshiped in their quarters or in open air Christian gatherings and it was after Emancipation in 1865, that these freed people established church organization and settlements throughout the areas along Caney and Linville creeks and their contributaries. As freed citizens, they became tenant farmers or purchased small tracks of land from the plantation owners and stayed right in the same area of where they had always lived. It was at this time that the new churches became the central place in the community for worship and a place where the children could attend school. The cemetery on Caney Creek across from the church was first used in 1909 when Emma (Thomas) Edwards’s son was the first interred. The Reverend Anthony Martin was interred in 1910 and John Cathey, an uncle of Mrs. Edwards was buried there in 1911. Before 1909 people from the Bell Bottom settlement were buried on the Thompson plantation on Caney Creek. The new building was completed on May 10, 1970 and the church family moved from a wood framed building to the brick structure which was electrically convenient, with lights, air conditioning, padded pews and panel walls inside; indoor toilet, facilities with cold water fountain in the church and fellowship hall and a Baptistery in the sanctuary. In 1992, deep water well was drilled for indoor running water, ceiling fans were installed and telephone speakers were installed in the Fellowship Hall.
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