St. Bartley Primitive Baptist Church was named for Bartley Harris (1800-1896), its second pastor. Harris was widely known in the region for performing mass baptisms in the Big Spring, Huntsville’s primary water source. He supposedly baptized as many as 300 people in one day and more than 3,000 over his lifetime.
Baptism at Big Spring
Photo courtesy of Huntsville-Madison County Public Library, Special Collections
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