The old Walkup's Grove Baptist Church was bulldozed in these past weeks. The building was in poor condition and could not be repaired. The church was located south and east of Fairfax in Dale Township.
The Baptist Church at Walkup's Grove was erected in 1881 and was presided over by Rev. C. L. Butts. Organizing members were: Mr. and Mrs. Duncan Sillers, Mr. and Mrs. John Sillers, Mr. and Mrs. James Freet, Mr. and Mrs. Martin L. Bear, Mr. and Mrs. Red Woodhouse, Mr. and Mrs. George Walkup, Mr. and Mrs. Riley Walkup, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Christian, Fountain Lott, George Lott, J. L. Miles, Mr. and Mrs. William Miles, Mr. and Mrs. George Creed and Shade Franklin.
The church continued to be active until about 1951. The building was standing in a most dilapidated state when it was bulldozed down just last week.
On Oct. 6, 1978 the sole surviving members, Curtis New and Ernest Carter, signed a deed to Ralph Carter, Fred Carter and Henry Bowness, trustees of the Walkup's Grove Cemetery Association and their successors in office, stating that it be subject to terms and condition of the James Walkup's stipulation of July 1880.
In historic happenings printed in The Fairfax Forum, in the year 1860, land was recently acquired by James Robert Walkup in Dale Township. In 1910 Walkup's Grove Cemetery Association was formed. In 1920 the Cemetery Endowment Fund was established. The cemetery was started when a knock on the door, James Robert Walkup walked across the room and opened the door and there stood a grief stricken man, hat in hand, and his head bowed in sorrow.
"Please, Mister," he said, "we're passing through in our wagon, could you help us? We've lost two of our children and we have no place to bury them." James Robert Walkup walked silently with the stranger to the wagon. There he saw a woman and several children huddled together. Two small bundles wrapped in quilts had been placed at the rear of the wagon. At once Mr. Walkup led the way up to the top of the hill where he had been busy all week clearing a space in the dense timber. There among the wild flowers and timber and tree stumps and singing birds the two small graves were dug. This was the beginning of Walkup's Grove Cemetery.
With the forethought for establishing the cemetery endowment fund and the wonderful donations following, the Cemetery is able to provide good care for the cemetery in years to come, but more than that is wanted. They want to carry on the high ideals that their forefathers had.
The old church building was bulldozed down, some lumber taken from it by workers of the Cemetery Association, and then it was burned and the remains were buried. The work was done by Showalter and Son Bulldozing of Craig.