Rural Chatham County churches on Mt. Gilead Church Road

When I left Fearrington Village (see yesterday’s post) to head home, my iPhone map directed me to turn off Highway 15-501 onto Mt. Gilead Church Road, which would eventually connect me with Highway 64 to head east toward Raleigh. 

While on that relatively short leg of Mt. Gilead Church Road, I came across two churches that caught my eye, so I made spontaneous stops to photograph each of them. Both also had graveyards adjacent to the church property. 

By far, my favorite of the photos I took of the two churches was the one of Mt. Gilead Baptist that is leading off the post. I don't think I could have asked for a better tree framing opportunity. A few other shots and angles and one shot of an ancillary structure on the property appear below. They are followed by four images of the graveyard.

A short distance south of Mt. Gilead Baptist is Haw River Baptist, which I came upon apparently as Sunday services were breaking up for the day. 

I was questioned by at least two church members (one of whom might have even have been the pastor) as I tried to hurry my shots so I could get out their hair. It was a very nice looking church, so I wanted to get at least a few pictures. The six images you see here are everything I took from the visit. 

As for James and Annie Fearrington, whose names appear on the grave marker closest to the parking lot in the fourth photo below, I was not able to ascertain if they have any connection to the nearby Fearrington Village.

One oddity of note about this stop. At home while preparing this post, I looked up the two churches on my Maps app, and the app places Haw River Baptist Church on the west side of Mt. Gilead Church Road, the same side of the road as the Mt. Gilead church. But I can say from first-hand, on-site experience that the Haw River church is on the east side of the road. (shrug)