MONTPELIER METHODIST CHURCH

Built in 1895, the Historic Montpelier Methodist Church is a historic landmark for Baldwin County.  

The church was located in the Blacksher Community and was owned by the Thomas John Earle family. Services were held one Sunday a month.  The preacher served five churches.

The church once served as the home of the annual district meetings of the local Methodist churches which were held each Fall.  While an active church, the congregation was led by a visiting Methodist minister from Stockton, AL who traveled by horseback to Blacksher to conduct service on Sunday.

There was a hymnal played on a pump organ each Sunday during service: Come my fount

There were three families who attended church originally:
Mr. Ulmer Bradley and his family
Mr. Frank Earle and his family
Thomas John Earle Sr. and family

If the preacher brought his wife and family, there were approximately 10 members in the congregation. The preacher would remain after service each Sunday and have lunch with one of the families.  Because there were only three families, the preacher would eat with each family four times a month.

Former members states “The church represented a continuity of worship to the families who worshipped here”. 

The church provided religious instructions for all races. The church is an exquisite example of 19^th century period architecture and still includes its original pews, pulpit, chandeliers and stained-glass windows.

The church had not had service for over 60 years when donated to the Bicentennial Park by Mr. Thomas John Earle and family in 2012. The church was donated in memory of Mr. Thomas John Earle’s grandparents: John William Earle and his wife Agnes; his father Thomas John Earle Sr., Mother-Martha Mason Earle and sister Catherine Earle Cortlett.

On April 17, 2013, the church was moved from its original location at T.J. Earle Road and Alabama 59 in the Blacksher community and taken to Bicentennial Park where it is now an exhibit at the 19^th Century Village.