Elm Street Baptist Church 1


	The Elm Street Baptist Church
	In 1900 the congregation of the High St. Colored Baptist Church expanded and moved up the hill just a little closer to heaven to Elm Street. An area known then as Slabtown for the slabs of tree trunks laid down on the dirt roads to keep the mud down and the ruts from the wagons minimized. The sawmill and the railroad was down the hill along the Cumberland River. It’s unclear at this time just how large the congregation was since no records have been found from that time. In the year 2002 the number of Whitley Countians whose ancestors include Africans are very small—fewer than 110 people labeled themselves black or African-American in the 2000 census. Of that population, many people now living in Williamsburg can trace their families back to just two or three local slaveholders. After the emancipation many families and individuals left the area looking for a better life. Some were forced out. Some just disappeared. A few families settled into to isolated homes in the hills coming down from the mountains only to sell products from their small farms. Some stayed in the area working as domestics, farmers, mill workers, railroad workers and mineworkers.		Next