For 75 years there has been a Baptist witness in a section of Henry County which once had the name of Rough & Ready, likely after the Rough & Ready Mills which dated to the 1870s. Indeed some of the Baptist church's founders may have considered Rough & Ready as the name for the new church. Instead they settled on Fort Trial Baptist Church, naming it after an historical landmark which once stood near the site.
Fort Trial was a fort from the French and Indian War which was a time when Henry was frontier. Washington visited the fort. Oldtimers point towards a wooded hillside as the possible location of the fort.
Fred Anderson
Rough & Ready (at least the Ready part) has characterized the good church folks since the constituting of the church in 1933. James Pleasants McCabe, the long-time pastor of First Baptist Church, Martinsville, and “the Baptist bishop” for Henry, was the guiding shepherd behind the founding of a church in the countryside between the furniture town of Bassett and the textile town of Fieldale.
The church was constituted in June 1933 with 48 members. In the beginning there were 44 babies in the Cradle Roll and 266 scholars enrolled in the Sunday school. The numbers, especially in the Cradle Roll, speak of a founding membership largely composed of young men and women who were establishing families. There was a long succession of short-term pastors. The two longest pastorates in the history of the church have been James H. Alsop with 11 years and Joey McNeill, who has completed his 10th year as pastor.
The church has come a long way since its first building, which was a brick edifice with a columned portico and steep stairs. The present building is of contemporary architectural style and an addition containing a large fellowship hall and educational space has been recently added.
For the church's recent 75th anniversary, which was celebrated on June 1, three charter members were present: Mabel Ramsey, age 95; Clyde Watkins, age 91; and Odessa Booth, age 86. They are living reminders of the vision of the small band of believers who constituted Fort Trial.
For the anniversary, George and Ruby Carter, guardians of the church's history, let the church's history room overflow down the main corridor with interesting displays. The displays included a little table which the youth group of the 1940s or '50s had bought with money which they collected. When they had accumulated $10, the youth sent two of their group to a local furniture store to make the selection. The table was still being used by the youth as late as 2002. Also on display was the record album from the youth choir of 1973. Down the hall and in the sanctuary, the anniversary congregation was treated to the real thing. Some 17 alumni from the youth choir of 35 years ago presented several musical selections. Among the alumni to sing was Becky Jarrett McKinney, whose membership remains at Fort Trial and who currently serves as president of Virginia WMU.
Not present to sing was Glen Adkins who, with his wife Clista, is a missionary currently serving in Hungary through the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. The Fort Trial boy of '73 recently directed the choir of the Gandhi School for Roma teenagers as they made a video singing Gypsy songs. It is a long way from Henry County to Hungary, yet Adkins is still calling upon the skills learned so long ago at Fort Trial Church. Appropriately, in the anniversary service, the “youth” from '73 also sang one of the gospel song favorites of their era, “Pass It On.”
For 75 years, the people of Fort Trial have been passing along the Good News, the joys of Christian friendships and the compassion of personally-performed missions. Fort Trial members realize that the world is Rough and they are the ones who are Ready to respond with God's love in action.
Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies. He may be contacted at [email protected] or at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.