Red River Baptist Church
Red River Baptist has seen a lot since it was founded in 1791. It’s congregation braved the infamous terrors of The Bell Witch from 1817-1821, but the hoofbeats and fire heralding this community's next chapter was hitting home to nearly everyone in The Black Patch. The American Tobacco Company’s price cuts had driven the price of tobacco below what it cost for farmers to grow it. Felix Ewing began traveling around speaking to tobacco farmers desperate for answers. On September 24, 1904 just 7 miles from this quiet church yard, 6,000 farmers assembled in Gutherie, KY to develop a plan. By the end of the day the Planter’s Protective Association was organized with Felix Ewing, now better known as The Moses of the Black Patch, as its president. Shortly after, a militant arm of the association arose called the Night Riders whose secret meetings were attended by farmers, law enforcement, politicians, religious leaders, and businessmen. Their meetings, “opened with prayer to a merciful, compassionate and loving God, then immediately followed with plans to do injury upon all those men, women, and childrens not in agreement with the Planters Protective Association. The Night Riders terror lasted for the next four years with each new member ending their initiation stating, “in the presence of almighty God and these witnesses…” Some did it out of principle, some out of desperation, and some just got lost in the smoke. Now it is your time to go and be a witness to one of these small farming family’s struggles in SMOKE: A Ballad of the Night Riders. We are eagerly waiting to welcome you at the gates 2024 Bell Witch Fall Festival.