Birmingham Churches and their Cornerstones 127

Since last June I have not been regularly contributing to this series because Samford student Avery Means and I have been cataloging my collection of area cornerstone photos for a resarch project funded by Samford University’s Center for Worship and the Arts. (We are up to 225 sites in that series!) But since today is Juneteenth and heavy rain is keeping me from attending celebrations (at least at this hour). I’m contributing a post on a local Black Baptist church founded in the first decade of emancipation.

Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church is located at 2581 Wenonah-Oxmoor Road. It is one of at least three historic churches in the Sand Ridge community. or as it is now known the Oxmoor Neighborhood. This African American community was in unincoporated Jefferson County until the mid-1970s when it and the rest of the Oxmoor Valley were annexed into the City of Birmingham.

Shady Grove’s current building was erected in 2002 and while no earlier cornerstones are displayed in the building’s wall, the stone proudly declares that the congregation was founded in 1873 “or before.” This is not the only cornerstone that reflects the fact that the exact date of a congregation’s founding is unknown, but it is one of the few. A quick glance at entries referencing this church on Bhamwiki reflect the fact that it has been a major community institution serving as a polling place and the site of important community meetings.

Read this first post for more on this series on Birmingham churches and their cornerstones.

Map of Posts in this Project

The color and shape of the location markers indicate the character of the cornerstones at each site. Stones like these, with a scripture verse or dedicatory phrase and multiple names are and at most one person’s name are yellow. Since there are multiple stones the marker contains a square. Click here for full information on the markers.