Some time ago I visited the ruins of Old Liberty, six and a half miles west of Greenville. It stands on a spot where the pioneers built a church that flourished for many years. My companion and I sat down by the old forsaken and forgotten log house and then wandered around in the graveyard. Old Liberty, as we saw it, probably presented to my companion a scene showing nothing more than the ravages of time and neglect. I saw not only the view that lay before us, but I also could see in my mind's eye the many changes that had taken place, year after year, since the days when I was a boy.

Liberty was built by the pioneers in the early history of the county--in 1816. A short time after Liberty was built Reverend James Johnston organized a Cumberland Presbyterian congregation there, it being one of the first Cumberland Presbyterian congregations organized in the county. The Presbyterians held their regular meetings of worship at Liberty until 1851, when they erected a new church house on the lower Hopkinsville Road and called it Mount Pisgah. Liberty Church was built as a union church house, free to all denominations. The Methodists used Liberty as a place of worship until about 1880, when they abandoned it.

Liberty Church had a noted record of religious worship and revivals. When this church was built, houses of worship were searce in the western as well as in the other parts of Muhlenberg. No other place in the county was more noted for religious revivals than Liberty. During the summer and fall of every year protracted meetings were held, and people and preachers of all denominations gathered and remained for weeks. Large arbors were made for outdoor service. Basket meetings were frequent, and cooking was sometimes done on the church ground. No such revival services take place now-a-days. The earnest appeals of the preachers, the zealous songs, long prayers, and loud shouts of joy that were heard and realized at Liberty long ago are seldom heard in the worship of to-day. I can remember the old pioneers as they would shake hands with each other with smiles of hope and joy.

Liberty was called "the mother of preachers." Many of the young men of this and adjoining neighborhoods became ministers of the Gospel under the influence of the revivals that took place at Liberty. Among them were Thomas and Mark Bone, sons of John Bone, George and Thomas Reynolds, sons of Richard D. Reynolds, who was the grandfather of John T. Reynolds, sr., Charles and Kincheon Hay, sons of Kinnard Hay, a schoolteacher, and brothers of Wiley S. Hay, who represented the county in the Legislature in 1845 and 1846, and who later became a State Senator; Henry and Felix Black, sons of Henry Black and brothers of Judge Nathan Black, who later became a noted lawyer in Western Kentucky; Duran Alcock, Stephen Goodnight, Charles Campbell, Adlai Boyd, and Samuel Wilkins, through the influence of Old Liberty, also became preachers. None of these men spent much time in Muhlenberg after they became preachers except Adlai Boyd and Samuel Wilkins.

Liberty was sometimes used as a place for political gatherings and barbecues. It was also used as a schoolhouse until 1855, when a school was built a mile east of the church. W. A. Armstrong taught the last district school at Liberty, in the fall of 1855. In the early times the county was not divided into school districts, and the children of about fifteen families came from a radius of two miles to attend school at Liberty. The first school that I attended was at Liberty. It was then (in 1846) taught for two sessions by James F. Messic, a young Presbyterian preacher. He was born in 1819 and died at Dixon, Webster County, in 1885. His students ranged from five to twenty in years and from thirty to forty in number. Liberty was then standing in the midst of a beautiful forest surrounded by clustered oaks proudly waving their long arms of green foliage to the summer winds and forming a delightful shade. A beautiful and ample playground extended all around the house.A Sweep and Well and an Old Oaken Bucket, near Old Liberty

In my memory I can plainly see, as if it were but a few years ago, the children that attended the school taught by Messic coming up to Liberty along the different roads and paths in the early morning hours with their baskets, buckets, and books. They were neatly dressed in homespun apparel and came with merry hearts and rosy cheeks, greeting each other with a smile. It was an ambition among the boys and girls to be first at school and to get there before "book time," which gave them a chance for play. The old blue-backed spelling-book was used, and it took two copies to last some pupils through the school. The old-time readers were also used. We all admired the poem about the sailor boy whose name was Patrick Green, who said, "Would you know my story? I have been across the ocean blue and seen it in its glory." Most of the boys and girls used thumb-papers to protect their books. In the early schools the children were allowed to read and spell out and sometimes the schoolhouse would appear like a beehive with a general hum of variegated voices. We tried to see which could spell and read the loudest. W. H. Rice, who died forty years ago, was the champion in loud spelling.

Messic was king, and waved the scepter o'er Liberty's domain. What he said was law and gospel. He would read his rules every Monday morning, commencing first, second, and so on to the tenth rule. He backed up his rules with two keen switches, a large and a small one, which he placed in a rack over the door.Old Liberty Church, in 1900

The greatest attraction at school was recess and playtime. At twelve o'clock Messic would say, "Put by books for dinner." Then a general hustling commenced and continued until "books" was again called. After dinner was over, play commenced. The games were "Bull-pen," "Prisoner's Base," "Catball," "Andy Over," and marbles. The recess would last an hour. James F. Shelton, now in his seventy-seventh year, was the "fox" of the school. A number of boys would act as "hounds," and many a time they chased Shelton around through the woods, but never caught him.

Messic had a sweetheart, who lived about a half mile from Liberty, and sometimes after dinner he would make a call, and then our playtime would be extended. We were all glad to see Messic step off down the road, for we felt that we could do as we pleased during his absence.

How well I remember the old well that stood west of the house and near the road! It was nicely curbed up with stone. We used a pole and a sweep to draw water from its depths. There we often stood to drink of the fresh water from "the old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, the moss-covered bucket that hung in the well." But now neither vestige nor sign of this old well can be seen.

On one occasion a man named Loving came to the Messic school. I remember him as well as if it had been yesterday. He was a middle-aged man with light hair and blue eyes; his face was considerably marked with smallpox. Messic called the school to order and Loving took out his watch and commenced his examination with the smallest pupil. He asked this small boy, "If you had this watch and should break it, to whom would you take it to get it fixed?" This he asked of some others. Most of them said that they did not know. Some answered that they would take it to the blacksmith; others said to the gunsmith or to the carpenter. Finally Loving came to a boy who had been listening and watching very earnestly. He asked the boy, "Son, if you had this watch and should break it, where would you take it to get it fixed?" The boy looked wise and smacked his mouth and said, "Well, sir, I would take it to God." "Oh, no," replied Loving, "you could not do that." This lad was the well-known C. Y. Shelton, who in 1864 moved to Arizona and who died at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1887, and was buried at Old Liberty.Ruins of Old Liberty Church, in 1912

On another occasion during Messic's school, John Campbell, a mathematical genius of the country, came to Liberty, as we supposed, to test Messic's mathematical ability. Campbell stated several problems and asked Messic to solve them. One of them was: "How large is that piece of land or section of country which, if fenced, the number of acres enclosed would be equal to the number of rails around it, the rails being ten feet long and laid ten rails high, and so placed that every two lengths of rails formed a pole of the boundary?" Messic said he did not think the problem could be solved. Campbell then figured it out and showed in what size tract it was that, under the specified conditions, the number of acres and the number of rails was just the same. Messic and all of us then saw that it could be done, and I, for one, have not forgotten it.

A novel event during Messic's time was the geography singing-school. A man named Burr came into the Liberty neighborhood and made up a class of about twenty scholars. It was a singing-school of geographical names. Burr had these names so classified and arranged that by giving them the proper accent and singing them to some familiar tune they would make interesting music as well as impress geographical names on the memory. Burr had a large chart which he used, and the pupils all had maps. In those days maps and geographies were printed in separate books. During the process of singing some of the mischievous girls, in calling out the names of some of the lakes, would substitute the name of Messic. For instance, instead of Lake Michigan they would sing "Lake Mr. Messic." This singing-school was taught Saturdays and Sundays. Messic was not a member of the singing class, but would attend as a spectator.

The young men of the neighborhood occasionally met to discuss different questions. However, Liberty was more frequently used as a meeting-place for singing classes. Such singing classes met during the summer season and sang according to the old four-note system called the fa, sol, la, me. These classes were kept up for many years. The songs were called "Montgomery," "Mt. Zion," "Edom," "Ocean," "Huntington," "Delight," and "Easter Anthem," and they were fine music. James W. Rice was the leader for many years. The books used were called the "Missouri" and "Southern Harmony." Sometimes the singers would bring their dinners and spend the day at Liberty. Uncle John Allison (who would rather sing bass than eat) was one of our best singers. Allison, Morton, and Buchannon gave us music equal to a brass band.

Many of the boys and girls with whom I went to school at Liberty have passed away. Some of them are scattered in other States; only a few are now living in the county, and they have reached their threescore years and ten. Soon after Liberty was built a graveyard was started near the church. This burying-ground has slowly increased, and now a number of the people of the neigh borhood, including some of those who attended Liberty school and church during, before, or after my youth sleep within its confines.

My companion and I walked around in this graveyard and read the inscriptions on the tombstones. As we passed along I pointed out the unmarked grave of the Reverend Adlai Boyd, once a noted pioneer Cumberland Presbyterian preacher. He was born in the first years of the Nineteenth Century and spent fifty-odd years of his life in earnest devotion to the cause of the Christian religion. Boyd was an eloquent and impressive speaker and one of the ablest preachers that ever lived in the county. He was pastor of Liberty Church for some years. Many a time his clear and distinct voice rang out within and about Liberty Church, interesting and instructing many of those that are now slumbering with him in the dust of death. He lived northeast of Greenville, and was a man of some means. He owned a good farm of five hundred acres of land, underlaid with coal, which is now included in the Hillside coal holdings. He owned a house and lot in Greenville. His first wife was Joanna Cesna. They raised a good-sized family, consisting of four boys and three girls. His first wife died about 1864 and was buried in Liberty graveyard. Some years afterward Mr. Boyd married again and removed to Henderson. In the spring of 1882 he came to Greenville on a visit, took sick and died, and was buried at Liberty by the side of his first wife. He devoted his life to the betterment of his race, in persuading men and women to become allied to the Christian religion.Old Liberty Burying-Ground, 1912

In 1902, when the Cumberland Presbyterians of Greenville tore down the old building that had been erected in 1848, they placed in their new building four memorial windows, one of which is "Sacred to the Memory of Adlai Boyd, First Pastor. Matthew 28:19." Few who now read his name in that window know that he was one of the most influential preachers of his day and that he is buried at Old Liberty. 2