Memories Series: Big Black Creek Historical Association: The Beginning
By Anna Cooper—Associate Editor
Standing in the Denmark Presbyterian Church, I couldn’t help but think about when I was growing up. My grandmother loved to sing. It didn’t matter if it was a song from her youth, an old ballad, or a hymn from church. While my Oma’s favorite hymn was “I’ll Fly Away,” another song she often sang was “Blessed Assurance,” and I always loved hearing it. While riding in the car she would seamlessly go from one hymn to the other, but “Blessed Assurance” was always on the list.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine;
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This sweet melody, played by Billy King, echoed in the Denmark sanctuary. I couldn’t help but think of her as he played—it reminded me of my Oma, but also the church I grew up in. The late Pastor Richard Findley would play hymn after hymn on the piano, much like King was doing between interview questions. The church we met in, built in 1854, was restored by the Big Black Creek Historical Society and has so much history hidden in the floors, walls, and pews. This isn’t the only church the historical society has restored. Another church in Mercer, Tennessee also got the refurbishment treatment, but unlike the one in Denmark, it hasn’t been added to the historic registry, just yet.
According to their website, the Big Black Creek Historical Society was formed in 2006, “with the express purpose to identify, preserve and promote historical sites within the communities of Denmark, Mercer, Leighton and Woodland, all small towns West of Jackson, TN.” These historic sites include, of course, the two churches, Denmark Presbyterian and Cumberland Presbyterian in Mercer, and 52 different cemeteries within a 10-mile radius of Denmark.
Named after the Big Black Creek that feeds into the Hatchie River, it’s only right that a historical society has a name with as much history as the one they picked to be named after. Based on the research presented in three books written by Mr. Billy King, the Native Americans that inhabited West Tennessee were mainly the Chickasaw. This tribe helped name several different regions within and around our portion of the state. The Estonallie trail, meaning “where we cross” is the site where these Native Americans crossed the Hatchie River, near it is the Big Black Creek Springs. These springs, in Denmark’s early days, allowed flatboats enough room to travel up them to get to the Estonallie landing and enter the Hatchie River. This provided access to settlers for the area, as well as supplies for soldiers in the Civil War. In all, the creek played a big role in the history that Big Black Creek is now studying, preserving, and refurbishing.
One of the first projects the founding members of the historic society decided to undertake was to find historic sites—and cemeteries have a lot of history. While 52 cemeteries in a 10-mile radius is a lot, King let us know that “most all of them are old family cemeteries out in fields long forgotten. From some of that study we would run into all kinds of stories about people in those cemeteries,” which helped in other projects the historical society has worked on. The biggest cemetery in Denmark is the one behind the Presbyterian church, “it’s in a trust fund and well cared for.” King elaborated. Many of the cemeteries are not part of the historical associations; they just wouldn’t be able to take care of all of them. The two other cemeteries in Denmark have been deeded to them, but as for the others, “we mark them and read them—that’s what it’s called. We go in and read all the names and things like that,” to document the gravesites. “Big Black Creek is one of the largest historical groups in Tennessee. I’ve got a group of people and they don’t do anything except help you find a grave. They’ve been involved with what is called ‘find a grave,’” online. “It’s about five people and that’s all they do, so if you’re looking for that. They get out, search, and report back to find a grave.”
When trying to decide how to tackle writing about the Big Black Creek Historical Society my first thought was to concentrate on their “Red Back Hymnal” singing event that they put on, but because of COVID, the event has been rescheduled more than once. However, once we started speaking to Mr. Billy King and learned about the wealth of knowledge and history he had access to concerning Mercer, Denmark, and the area in and around Jackson, it was easy to decide that the Historical Society shouldn’t be limited to just one article. Like we did last summer with the City of Randolph, Cypress is planning to dedicate a few articles in our Memory Series to the Big Black Creek Historical Society. Right now we are planning one on the church in Denmark and another on the church in Mercer. We look forward to sharing the rich histories of both establishments as well as more information behind the “Red Back Hymnals” and sharing more about the work the people behind the Big Black Creek Historical Society have completed. Thank you to Mr. Billy King for this opportunity. I look forward to speaking with you further and delving deeper into your books on Big Black Creek.