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Clifton
Baptist Church Complex (BO-377) Boyle County, KY Description The Clifton Baptist Church complex is located on the western edge of the Clifton Road in the community of Clifton, on the edge of a bluff overlooking the Dix River. Established after the Civil War as an African-American hamlet the community retains little of its historic fabric. Most residences have deteriorated or have been replaced by modern structures. Once the nucleus of the Clifton community, the Baptist Church and school are virtually all that remain of the historic hamlet. The community established a school by 1886 in a single pen log building, establishing the Clifton Baptist Church in the same year. The complex includes seven contributing resources: the church, school, a dining hall, privy, cemetery, plank fence and rock fence, all on approximately two acres. Clifton Baptist Church (Contributing Building) The one-story, frame church, constructed in the late nineteenth century following the organization of the congregation in 1886, is built on a nave-plan with a front, gable asphalt shingle clad roof; and a projecting entry tower with kicked pyramidal roof covered with pressed metal shingles. The front (east) facade features central paired and paneled entry doors topped by a multi-pane transom. A sawn ornamental, circular vent is located above the entryway. Windows extend along the north and south walls, being 2/2 sash with frosted glass in the lower sash. A bay-shaped nave extends from the rear (west) wall with a single pane of stained glass, flanked on either side by sash windows. Exterior materials and details include an interior end brick chimney with stucco covering; weatherboard siding; and a continuous dry-laid stone foundation. The church interior retains six original wood pews facing each side of the center aisle. The original cast iron stove, located along the north wall between pews was replaced in the mid-1960s with a wood-burning stove. The nave contains a raised floor and a wood pulpit. Interior walls are painted piaster with beaded board wainscotting. The original hardwood floor remains under a carpet added in the late twentieth century. Window architraves are of wood with bulls eye corner blocks. School (Contributing Building) The late nineteenth century school was constructed as a one-story, single pen log cabin and operated as the Clifton School from 1886 until 1930 (Boyle County Deed Book 19/183; DB 59/ 375). After the school closed in 1930, S. Bunyon Rowe purchased the building for use as a residence (DB 59/375). Historic photographs of the school prior to 1930 show a central entry on the front (south) facade, flanked by 6/6 sash windows, with a shed addition on the west wall, covered with weatherboard and rolled asphalt (See Figure 1). Portions of the original log building are covered with weatherboard and rolled asphalt in the photo. Subsequently, the building was stuccoed. The original log pen remains much the way it appears in the historic photo, with historic materials intact while resting on a continuous dry-laid stone foundation with portions of the log construction visible on the north wall where rolled asphalt and weatherboard are torn away. In the 1960s, the building again became associated with the church, becoming the Clifton Baptist Church hall, a role it maintains presently. Dining Hall (Contributing Building) Located behind (west) of the church and school is an early twentieth century, one story, frame building, rectangular in shape, with a side gable roof clad with standing seam metal. Constructed as the church dining hall, the building has board and batten and weatherboard siding. The front (south) facade, faces the church and features a side entry and three single pane windows. The foundation is of continuous poured concrete. The building is currently vacant, used only as a storage area. Privy (Contributing Structure) A pre-World War II, box frame privy with a shed roof covered with standing seam metal is located directly behind the church. The front (east) facade faces the church with one side entry, hidden by a vertical plank privacy wall extending to the roofline. The building is the only restroom facility in the complex. Plank Fence (Contributing Structure) Along the eastern (front) boundary of the complex and south side of the church, is an early twentieth century four plank fence. This contributing structure serves as a boundary between the church yard and the Clifton Road and defines the yard area in front of the church. Studies discussing the function of African-American yard spaces, such as John Michael Vlach's Back of the Big House, indicate that such an area probably served as an integral part of Clifton's African-American culture in the late nineteenth through mid twentieth centuries. The fence is known to have existed prior to 1930 as is shown in a historic photograph of church members resting on a pew next to the fence. Rock Fence (Contributing Structure) Oriented on an east-west axis between the church and school is a mid-to late-nineteenth century, dry-laid rock fence with no coping. The fence is mentioned in the 1886 deed of the Clifton School (Boyle County DB 19/183) and probably served as a barrier for the school grounds, subsequently serving as a divider between the church and school grounds and the cemetery (possibly associated with a road bed), it maintains historic significance with the church and school as a divider between the two buildings and their grounds during the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Cemetery (Contributing Site) The rear lot of the complex contains a cemetery established in 1 899 and marked by a date stone located in the middle of the lot. Situated on a natural slope, the cemetery exhibits several historic tombstones of local and manufactured quality. The Board of Directors for the Clifton Church bought the parcel in 1899, "...one half acre...(along with) also a 10 feet drive way along the west side of same...to be used for no other purpose than a burial ground for the church (Boyle County Deed Book 28/69; November 25, 1899)." The cemetery remains partially occupied, with approximately 150 lots remaining open. Statement of Significance The Clifton Baptist Church Complex (BO-377), located on the western edge of the Clifton Road in northeastern Boyle County, Kentucky, meets National Register of Historic Places Criterion A, and is locally significant for its association with a rural, African-American hamlet established during Reconstruction in Boyle County. One of only two such remaining resources in Boyle County, the complex is significant within the historic context "African-American Community Development in Boyle County, Kentucky After the Civil War." The property's significance derives from its association with a rural, African-American hamlet, established at the close of the Civil War when freed slaves were beginning new lives as public citizens. The property's Period of Significance extends from 1886-1946, when the Clifton School and Church were established and continued to serve as the nucleus of the rural community. Soon after the Civil War, the African-American community of Clifton was established on marginal soils on a bluff overlooking the Dix River. Comprised of small acreage tracts, the community was named for its location above the cliffs of the Dix River. The Clifton Road was established as a nineteenth century transportation route through northeastern Boyle County that allowed access to docks along the Dix River. The road remains a major access to the river. Residents were primarily farm families who relied solely on agriculture as the main economic activity, with tobacco and hemp being principal cash crops grown (Personal Interview with Madison Terrance, August, 1996). Clifton boasted no businesses, and residents often traveled a short distance south to a store and post office in Hedgeville (ibid). The community developed along the western side of the Clifton Road, forming a landscape with numerous log and frame houses (ibid). Most of these structures were replaced in the mid-to late-twentieth century with post World War II residences due to their minimal sizes and deterioration. As was the case in many late-nineteenth century African-American communities of the Bluegrass region, the church-school complex in Clifton served as the center of the community's social activities. Acreage for the complex, located along the western edge of the Clifton Road, was purchased in 1886 by trustees of the Clifton School (Boyle County Deed Book 19, Page 183). Initially, the land was to be used for the "benefit of a Public school, with log school house" (ibid). From 1886-1924, grades one through eight were taught at the school, with classes in session from August through December. Students worked on local farms the remainder of the year (Personal Interview with Madison Terrance, September 5, 1996). The original log school building remains in use, having undergone rehabilitation during its conversion into a private residence in 1930. The building retains its historic integrity through the retention of original fenestration and wall covering. The Clifton Baptist Church organized in the same year as the Clifton School and held services initially at the school house. By the end of the nineteenth century, the congregation gave its financial and physical support to the construction of a frame church building on the school lot. The church continues to hold services on Sunday mornings, led by Reverend James Landrum, pastor at the church since 1963. Church members are baptized in the Dix River, approximately one mile north of the church, in the same location used by Clifton congregations since the late nineteenth century (Personal Interview with Reverend James A. Landrum, August 28, 1996). In addition to the church and school, the complex also contains a dining hall (built in the early twentieth century by church members for a price of $50); a privy; a cemetery, established in 1899, to "be used for no other purpose than a burial ground for the said (Clifton) church" (Boyle County Deed Book 28/69); and two fences, one of dry-laid rock and one of wood planks. Currently, the log school house is used as a fellowship hall by the church and the original dining hall is used for storage.
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