Members of the Friendship Baptist Church congregation of Metcalfe and the John Lee of Nansemond Chapter, National Society Colonial Dames 17th Century dedicated a bronze marker to be placed on the building on Nov. 13.

The church commemorated its organization in 1848 and is the oldest organized Baptist church in Thomas County.

Friendship, the first Baptist church in Thomas County, was located in the southern part of the county, about two or three miles south of the present town of Metcalfe. It was off Roddenberry Road on Friendship Church Road. The first church was constructed of logs, but was replaced a few years later with a frame structure. A cemetery was laid out beside the church.

The old church records have been lost but in 1847, a group of seven men, known as the Wiregrass Club (possibly a political group), met in a grove of lovely oaks at the future site of Friendship Baptist Church.

Those seven men were James M. Horne, G. W. Swift, Sr., William Knapp, probably Augustus Roddenberry, Mr. Young, Mr. Rushin, and Mr. (Sugar) Forest and could be some of the founders.

Friendship predates the incorporation of the town of Metcalfe by 40 years.

With the completion of the railroad to the village of Metcalfe in 1888, the congregation determined a new church building should be erected. 

In 1889, James S. Lilly gave land for the new building, located on the east side of the railroad tracks.

The new building was a two-story wooden clapboard structure with a graceful steeple and was dedicated in July, 1890. The bell for the steeple was probably purchased in 1891. By 1900, the Friendship congregation consisted of 510 members — 250 males and 260 females.

The old Friendship Cemetery is still in its original location on Friendship Road.

The cemetery remained the burial grounds for original members of the church and other founding families of Metcalfe. There is a grave of a Revolutionary War veteran and several graves of Confederate veterans.

There are more than 113 graves there, dating through the 20th century and into the present century.

Prior to 1861, the area was perhaps the most prosperous section of the county.

Its fertile lands had made its owners wealthy. Before the Thomasville and Monticello Railroad was built and consequently before the flourishing village was dreamed of, this section was covered with large plantations.

In 1887 when it was finally announced that a railroad would be built from Thomasville to Monticello, a settlement began to develop halfway between the two towns. A yellow frame depot was built in 1880. On Aug. 24, 1888, the first train with its 15 cars arrived at the new station. By this time the town already had several stores, a church, a school, numerous residences, plus the depot.

Even though T. C. Mitchell and James Lilly owned most of the land where the settlement was located, Metcalfe was named after Dr. John T. Metcalfe, a New Yorker, who, like many northerners spent the winters in Thomas County. In January, 1890, The Daily Times Enterprise referred to him as a “cultured gentleman, a famous surgeon and physician, the Nimrod of his profession …” It is not known when the residents of the area dropped the “e” at the end of the spelling of Metcalfe, but today, it is spelled by most without the “e.”

In 1889 Metcalfe was large enough to justify a section the Daily Times Enterprise devoted to, “Items from Metcalfe” and later, in 1890, “Metcalfe Musings.” The opening of new stores and the construction of residences were reported in that column. By Dec. 1889, the newspaper noted that “…we need only a barber shop and a bank, and Metcalfe would pretty well be able to take care of herself…”. 

Agriculture and timber were the mainstays of Metcalfe’s commercial business. The railroad service made Metcalfe a center of shipping for these products, mainly cotton, watermelons and pears. A large cotton gin was located in the middle of town.

In a letter to the newspaper one year after the railroad opened, a citizen wrote, “I tell you, Metcalfe is on a regular boom. Cotton is coming right along, and trade is picking up every day. We’re bound to be a live town. No mistake about it.” And for two decades, his prediction was true. There were a total of 35 structures built from 1887 to 1920 and most were rather simple versions of what one usually thinks of as Victorian.

Today, Friendship Baptist Church has on its membership rolls surnames matching those of the early members.

It remains an active and viable part of the community of Metcalfe.

Following the church service and a marking ceremony, the members of John Lee of Nansemond Chapter shared with the congregation a bountiful old-fashioned dinner on the grounds.