Weaverville – The First Baptist Church of Weaverville celebrated its hundred-year anniversary this past weekend during three days of festivities that started on Friday evening with a concert by Leonard Hollifield and “Appalachian Consort” Then on Saturday afternoon, a family picnic and cookout with games and a blowup slide in front of the church. The celebration wrapped up on Sunday morning with an open house starting at 9:30 am and a Centennial Worship Service at 11 am.
According to the church’s history, the church’s roots extend back to 1920 when a “Baptist work began in Weaverville by a group of eight women as a Women’s Mission Society” under the sponsorship of the First Baptist Church of Asheville. A lot was purchased at the corner of North Main Street and Pine Street to build a church in 1921.
On July 15th, 1922, the church was organized at the old Weaverville High School Building, where 46 residents became charter members of the church, and it was taken into the Buncombe Baptist Association. In October of the same year, the Rev. J.J. Slattery became the church’s first pastor. The original church, now the Weaverville Library, was completed and the cornerstone was laid on August 16th, 1925.
Then, the former Burton House and property on North Main Street beside the old church were purchased in 1959, which is the present location of the new church. The current education building was completed in the 1960s. A groundbreaking ceremony for the new sanctuary was held on July 13th, 1973, and one year later, on July 14th, 1974, a dedication service was held for the newly completed sanctuary.
Editor’s Note: All the pictures here were taken during the family picnic event on Saturday by Clint Parker.