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Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Rev. Karen Schmidt leads the congregation in prayer during the Sunday service.
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Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Parishioners leave the service at Rocky Ridge Cumberland Presbyterian Church on May 12. The church is celebrating 170 years of fellowship in June.
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Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Parishioners greet each other at the start of the Sunday service.
When Bonnie Acton started attending Rocky Ridge Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1959, she knew it was a place where she belonged.
“I started attending because it was the church where my husband’s mother had been attending,” Acton said. “The people were amazing and they were always so welcoming. I never felt like a stranger and it was just a special place to me.”
Acton, who has continued attending the church over the years, will be one of many church members looking forward to celebrating the 170th birthday of the church with a series of events that begin with an open house from 1 to 2 p.m. on June 8.
The open house will be followed by a short program and reception from 2 to 4 p.m., when the church will celebrate its history in the Birmingham community. Church members also plan to set a vision for the next 170 years.
A worship service on June 9 at 10:45 a.m. will feature the Rocky Ridge choir and praise brand.
“When I first started attending it was mostly young couples, and we all kind of grew up together with our families,” Acton said. “When our children came along, they were regular attenders of the church, but as time has gone on, a lot of my generation has started to fade. There aren’t many left from when I first started going to the church.”
The Rev. Karen Schmidt serves as pastor at the church, following a line of 30 individuals who have pastored the church in the last 170 years.
“The folks at Rocky Ridge know how to love in Jesus’ name,” Schmidt said. “It is natural for them because it is in who they are. They are the most genuine people you will ever meet. They aren’t flawless at it, but they are real. They understand that if they are to do anything it is because of Jesus Christ who gives them strength, and I am honored to be their pastor.”
There was no organized church in the Rocky Ridge Community until 1854, according to a manuscript on the Acton family history, one of the first families listed on an area census from 1820.
In 1854, Franklin Pierce was the fourteenth President of the United States; the city of Birmingham would not be formed for 17 more years; and the Civil War was about 7 years away.
The Rev. Robert Bailey began conducting services in a “brush arbor” in the Rocky Ridge settlement in 1853.
The result of those meetings was the organization of the Rocky Ridge Cumberland Presbyterian Church on June 5, 1854, by 11 charter members.
The Rev. George M. Simpson, a circuit preacher, is credited with being the church’s first paid “full time” minister.
After the brush arbor meetings, a log building was soon erected, which was the first sanctuary of the church. In the 1880s, the log building burned to the ground.
The church building was moved from its initial location near what is now AAA across the street to its present site, around 1914, according to information provided by the church.
“I think the church has had a history of ebb and flow where they have gone between surviving and thriving,” Schmidt said. “I think the reason it is still here is that the people of the church love God deeply, they love one another deeply, and they have a deep connection to the church as the center of their community life. As I look at the history of Rocky Ridge, I see relationships with one another and with God to be of high value. The people of Rocky Ridge are willing to work to serve God, their community, and one another.”
Kirk Kilpatrick started attending the church in 1962 after deciding to go with his wife, whose mother was one of the early members of the church in the 1930s.
“Things weren’t like they are now,” Kilpatrick said. “It was a small church, but it had good people and I just really enjoyed going.”
Kilpatrick said his mother-in-law, Bernice Jones, started attending the church after moving to the area.
“Back then, there weren’t any other churches so she started attending, she loved the church, and she attended until the day she died,” Kilpatrick said. “I am getting close to turning 90 years old myself, and most of the people I grew up with in that church are now gone. There just aren’t many of us old folks left. But, it is a good place and I have been real thankful for it.”
Acton said a new project the church started this year is something she is excited to see grow and flourish. It consists of a garden the church community has labeled “God’s Garden.”
Through the project, church members have worked to plant fruits and vegetables to offer to the community.
“We had a planting day, and then there are several of us who go up there and volunteer our time, and it has been a really neat thing,” Acton said. “Each person that spends a little time at the garden you can really see the work that has been done and we are thrilled to see it coming along. We have planted things like green beans, squash, okra, tomatoes, corn and broccoli. We had this field behind our church and we decided to turn it into a little garden.”
Acton said she feels like God has a special purpose for the church, which is one of the many reasons it has remained for so many years.
“There is a reason that church is still sitting on the hill after 170 years,” Acton said. “It is just a really special place.”
For more information about the celebration, or to find out more information about the church, visitrockyridgechurch.org. The church is located at 2404 Altadena Road in Vestavia.
