Brother W.P. Barker and Mr. Lum Smith organized Toxaway Baptist Church in the spring of 1875 at the Old Hurricane School House, which was up near the cemetery on Old Hurricane Road. Brothers Robert and Roland Cobb preached revival services in midsummer, adding several converts to the church congregation.
Reverend Roland Cobb was the first pastor. Mr. Billie Chambers and Mr. Elijah were the first deacons.
About 1881, the church was moved from the Old Hurricane School to the corner of Cross Roads, where Old Hurricane Road and North Jenkins Bridge Road cross North Horseshoe Bridge Road. The men of the church built a new building at this site. Reverend Roland Cobb passed away during the building, or shortly after, the new church was built. The first church constitution was adopted on December 2, 1881.
In 1957, the windows and doors of the church were repaired, and plans were submitted to the highway department for the church to be moved across the road into the parking area so that Sunday School rooms could be added. This did not work out, so on June 9, 1957, the church membership voted to build a new two story building 28 feet wide and 50 feet long. This did not work out either, so on August 4, 1957, plans were made to dig out from under the existing church building to add classrooms, with the men of the church doing the work.
The present church building was dedicated for worship on February 15, 1976. The old church building became the church Fellowship Building and additional Sunday School class rooms and was moved from across North Horseshoe Bridge Road to the present site on January 23, 1985.
In 1996, the church membership voted to withdraw from the Beaverdam Baptist Association. In 2003, Creekside Christian Academy became Toxaway Baptist Academy when it was moved to the church for a short period of time.
Old church records show that church “fellowship” has been withdrawn from members in the past for various reasons such as: drinking, adultery, lying, dancing, making “moonshine”, stealing, fighting, membership delinquency, and just plain being “sorry”.
Family names on the church rolls over the years, from the beginning until now are: Barker, Smith, Cobb, Chambers, Wilbanks, Pitts, Holbrooks, Adams, McGuffin, Davis, Harbin, Owens, Burton, Moore, Certain, Padgett, Nelson, Carter, Durham, Stewart, Duke, Pressley, Collins, Carson, Connally, Farmer, Landreth, and many others.
Our purpose and reason for being here is to continue to lead souls to JESUS CHRIST and to be a Spiritual Lighthouse on the hill until JESUS returns.
This information was taken from church records and notes of Mr. Jack Collins.
This update was written by Bill Smith, November, 2008.
