Valley Rewind: Black Mountain Baptist Church

In May, the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center will be exploring our historical connections to the religious communities of the Swannanoa Valley through vintage photographs. This Gragg photograph from the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center's extensive archive shows Black Mountain Baptist Church's Baptist Bible Sunday School in 1937. Rev. Blair was pastor of the church from April 16, 1933 until November 30, 1939. He and his family lived next to the church in the parsonage which had six rooms and porches on the front and back. The Sunday School building was located behind the sanctuary. According to Rev. Blair's ledger he baptized 114, had 141 to join by transfer of their letter and conducted 26 weddings and 63 funerals while the pastor of Black Mountain Baptist Church. He was a cum laude graduate of Wake Forest and was in Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, when called to be the pastor of the church at Black Mountain. The church on Montreat Road is now known as First Baptist Church of Black Mountain.