admire old church sanctuaries. Recently on a warm July Dixie day, I had some real estate business in New Market. After meeting with my clients, I turned on the same street that I have driven hundreds of times before in the little town of New Market, AL. There are a few old storefronts that date back longer than I can remember. But what always fascinated me on that little sleepy street is the small white church structure on the west end. It is a quaint little structure with no sign on the building, but there is a sturdy metal black yard sign that reads in Old English style, “New Market Presbyterian Church.” There is an arch shaped window above the double door entrance. There are three windows on each side of the small building, each having an arch that compliments the arch at the front entrance. History tells me that the congregation was established as early as 1840. Some members of the small group are of the fourth generation to worship at New Market Presbyterian Church.
New Market Presbyterian Church has surely not survived without calamity. The first structure was destroyed by fire prior to the Civil War. A second facility was erected, a two story structure but succumbed to a tornado in 1884. Legend has it that several folks in New Market heard the church organ playing “Nearer My God to Thee” as it sailed into the sky.
Such structures scattered throughout the North Alabama landscape serve as monuments to the importance that our forefathers placed in a necessity to have a close relationship with our Creator.
New Market, AL
Submitted by
Jimmy Hill
RE/MAX Alliance Madison
Madison, AL