A Visit To Cane Ridge
In August of 1997 my son-in-law (Sean Sullivan, preacher at Shoals, Indiana and now at Norwalk, Ohio) and I visited Cane Ridge. This is the site of the early years of Barton Stone's preaching. It is a very important place in Restoration History. We took several pictures and they are linked on this page. The pictures have brief explanations with them.
This is the outside building that now houses the wooden meeting house. It is "a building within a building."
This is a view of the outer building with the Cane Ridge cemetary on the right.
This is the grave of Barton Stone. Stone passed away at his daughter's house in Hannibal, Missouri in 1844 and he was buried there. Sometime later his remains were moved to Jacksonville, Illinois and were buried on a farm where Stone once lived. That property sold and his body was exhumed and moved to the Antioch Church cemetary (I am not sure where this was). In 1847 the Cane Ridge church of Christ arranged to have his body exhumed one more time and interred at this spot.
The marker reads: "The Church of Christ at Cane Ridge Church and other generous friends in Kentucky have caused this monument to be erected in a tribute of affection and gratitude to Barton W. Stone, minister of the gospel of Christ and distinguishd reformer of the 19th century."
This is the tombstone of Wiliam Rogers, a lesser known preacher of the Restoration Movement period. You can read the inscription for yourself. The interesting facet of this inscription is that Rogers "united with the Church of Christ in 1807." The Campbells are generally falsely charged with "inventing" the Church of Christ. However, Thomas Campbell came to the United States from Scotland in 1807. His son, Alexander, did not arrive until 1809. The Senior Campbell was not censured by the Presbyterians until 1808. It was not until 1811 that the first congregation was set in order by the Campbells at Brush Run. Thus, Rogers was a member of the Church of Christ long before the Campbells.
This is the log building within the superstructure. There was only light from the windows while we were there, but you ought to be able to see the south wall and two windows.
This is one of the windows in the south wall looking into the old meeting house. The beams visible inside support the balcony.
Here is an inside shot. Hopefully, you can see some of the pews. The pulpit area is somewhat visible. You can again see beams that support the balcony. The balcony covers the back and both sides of the interior.
This is myself, taken in about the area of the last picture, but from behind the pulpit. If you look closely you can see the balcony above and behind me. Notice the electric outlet under the pulpit. I doubt Stone had such luxury! The red books are Disciple hymnbooks. The large book on the pulpit is a Bible from the time period of the building.
This is a shot of the pulpit taken from the balcony. This is one of the better pictures. I wish we had had more light!
You know preachers--we can't resist! We both took pictures of each other in the pulpit. Sean's picture turned out better. He is one of my favorite preachers anyway. I imagine that the cross on the front of the pulpit has been added in more recent days. However, the chalise on the table is new for sure. It bears the Disciples of Christ emblem on it.
