Application Filed for Historical Marker for Antioch Baptist Church

In October of 2021 the Middlesex Museum and Historical Society filed an application for a historical highway marker for Antioch Baptist Church.  The application was filed with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the agency that administers Virginia’s state highway marker program. Located in the recently designated Saluda Historic District, Antioch Baptist Church was established in 1866 and is believed to be the oldest African-American church in Middlesex County. It was formed by black members of Clark’s Neck Baptist Church (now Saluda Baptist).  Antioch has an illustrious history – it convened the first meeting of the Southside Rappahannock Baptist Association in 1877 and was one of its founding churches. Two of Antioch’s early pastors were instrumental in the establishment of the Rappahannock Industrial Academy, a Baptist-run high school that opened in 1902. The Antioch marker application is on track to be heard at the June 2022 meeting of the Virginia Board of Historic Resources. The marker is to be partially funded through an African-American history restricted fund that was given to the museum by Mary Wakefield Buxton.