The Unique History of Dry Ponds Church

From its beginnings in a brush arbor revival conducted by Rev. W.R. Evans in front of the Dry Ponds School house thru today the people of the Dry Ponds community have been the church.

A Sunday School was started in 1905 with S. A. Berry as the superintendent. When Mr. Berry moved to Tennessee a few years later the Sunday School was discontinued.

In 1910 the community was badly in need of a Sunday School and one was organized by Miss Maude Hass. She served as superintendent for eight years until she married and moved to Iredell County. Attendance of 25 to 30 people on Sunday morning was considered good.

The Dry Ponds School house was used for school, Sunday School, and worship services until 1930. The one room school was combined with the school at Sawmills. The community not wanting to lose the building, purchased it and continued to use it as a church.

In 1937 the church had increased until the little school house was so crowded that class work was inconvenient. The people met and decided to build a rock building.

On land obtained from Duke Power, a site was selected. All the people helped by collecting the native rocks, hauling sand, and cutting timber. The only labor that was paid for was a carpenter for one day and to the rock masons. The first service was held in the building on March 12, 1939 by Rev. Reid Wall, the Methodist minister from Granite Falls.

As the church grew, the need for additional space was met with the completion of the educational building in 1958-59. A new sanctuary was completed in 1988 with the first service held in November.

Thru the years services have been conducted by pastors of many denominations including: Methodist, Wesleyan Baptist, Baptist, Advents, Church of God and others.

The first full time pastor was Rev. Audley Frazier. He was assisted by Rev. McCrae Crawford. The following have served as either interim or full time pastor: Rev. Fred Hicks, Dr. Paul Hopkins, Rev. Grant Miller, Rev. Donald Denton and Rev. Willard Jenkins. Rev. Rick Crouse was called and started serving in December 1990.

The constitution and by-laws of Dry Ponds Baptist Church were adopted in 1989. At that time application was made for membership in the Caldwell Baptist Association. After spending a year under the watchcare of the association, Dry Ponds was accepted as a full member.