Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: The original members of Mt. Pilgrim African Baptist Church came from Milton’s First Baptist Church. Established in 1845, First Baptist’s membership was comprised of 83 whites and 33 blacks by 1849. Some of the black congregants were likely enslaved laborers working for one of the largest slaveholders in Florida, Jackson Morton, whose plantation was near Milton. In 1866, First Baptist’s black congregants broke away to form Mt. Pilgrim. The first services, led by the Rev. Nay, were held in a scuppernong arbor. In 1880, the church purchased property on Canal Street in Milton and built a wood frame church building. Community members and church leaders met in 1888 to organize a Benevolent Colored Cemetery Association, and elected Deacon A. Odum to be its first president. The association purchased land for the burial ground, later named Keyser Street Cemetery. In 1916, fire destroyed the church on Canal Street. Under the Rev. King David Britt’s leadership, the W.A. Rayfield & Company, a prominent black architectural firm from Alabama, designed this brick Gothic Revival style church. Mt. Pilgrim continued to be a focal point for Milton’s black community, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.