One of the most interesting and picturesque landmarks in Lawrence County is the Lebanon Presbyterian Church, a one room log building on Arkansas Hwy. 25 between Eaton and Lynn. The Church adjoins the old Lebanon Cemetery, land for which was donated by John Casper, great grandfather of Revis Casper. Though twice moved in its lifetime--once to a nearby field to make room for the highway--the church is back now near its original location. According to extracts from Sessional Records of the Congregation of Lebanon, the Rev. Samuel J. Baird and Elder A.W. Lyon organized the church May 30, 1852 at a schoolhouse "in a settlement of Presbyterians residing a few miles east of Smithville."

Those who united with the church were: James Blackwell and Melissa, his wife; Benjamin Blackwell and Elizabeth, his wife; and Mrs. Sarah A. Blackwell, all from Mount Bethany Church Presbytery of Memphis, Tennessee; Anthony Cazort and Mary Ann, his wife, and Lusene Cazort, their daughter, all from Franklin Church Presbytery of Concord, N.C.; Burgess Thomason; Miss Eliza Anderson from Batesville, Arkansas and James H. Johnston, and Elizabeth, his wife, from Ebenezer Church Presbytery of Knoxville, Tennessee. John Calvin, infant son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Blackwell was baptized during the service. James H. Johnston and James Blackwell were elected rulling elders and Anthony Cazort and Benjamin Blackwell were elected deacons.

The Church building was erected soon after, perhaps as early as 1852. A farmer and carpenter who lived in the Eaton Community before moving to Imboden, J. W. Jean now deceased, wrote about it in an article published in the December 19, 1935 edition of the Imboden Journal. However, his date of construction was ten years earlier, 1842. "It was built of hewn logs with an elevated front. The holes in the logs...were made for the support of a balcony for the slaves during the services." Again, John Casper, Burgess Thompson (Thomason ), John Mitchell, and Anthony Cazort, the latter being the grandfather, J.W. Jean, took the responsibility of the building of this church house. This church was of the Old School Presbyterian, better known as the Old Blue Stockings from the Tar Heel State. The reason they were called tar heels was because they always carried swung behind their wagon, a bucket of tar to grease their linchpin wagons. "The building...was put together with 'wooden pins whereever possible. In addition to the wooden pins, Anthony Cazort made square nails by hand out of worn out horseshoes.

"After the house was completed the date was set for dedication and the day for the occasion was very cold and rainy. The preacher came, riding horseback from Old Jackson, and found that his congregation consisted of three persons, and he stated that he would not preach to so small a congregation. To which remark, John Casper arose and asked him if he had a bunch of hogs in the woods and went to feed them, and after calling, only two or three came, would he feed the three, or take the corn back home because the whole bunch did not come, and quoted this scripture, `If you love me feed my lambs.' This was too much. The preacher then arose, read some scripture and took for a text, `If you love me feed my lambs,' and be it said that it was one of the greatest sermons ever delivered at this old church, lasted two hours and 35 minutes.”

Revis Casper doesn’t know when the church was discontinued but believe it was during or shortly after the Civil War. There is no Presbyterian Church in the Lynn Area Now. The closest one is at Walnut Ridge. This church observed its 100th Anniversary on June ll, 1978. the occasion was the subject of a “Frankly Speaking” column in the June 15, 1978 Times Dispatch, which quoted from the centennial program an account of early Presbyterianism in Lawrence County. “The first Presbyterian church established in Lawrence County was built between Powhatan and Strawberry. A picture of it was carried in the Commercial Appeal newspaper, indicating that it was built in 1837. The writer of the article, Clarence Taylor, said that later the church had fallen into disuse and was a haven for birds, snakes and bats."

"In 1842 (1852) the Lebanon Presbyterian Church was built near Highway 25 between Eaton and Lynn in Lawrence County..."

J.W. Jean wrote further, "The church house was also used for a school building and Mrs. Reanor Cazort, an aunt of the writer, taught the first school, walking two miles each day carrying her shoes and stockings until nearly in sight of the church where she would put them on. This is what I would call saving shoe leather. The textbooks used were the Holy Bible and the Blue Back Speller."

The school continued until around 1909-1910. Revis Casper knew one of the teachers, Iverson Wasson, who had at least two sisters who also taught, Miss Jessie and Miss Ethel. "It was a good size family," he says. Casper's mother, Mary Lee Britton, and his father, John Casper, attended the school and some Richeys and Nunnallys.

While the area was thinly populated, families were large, and the one room school was full, for often as many as eight children in a single family were enrolled. During that time, and after the school was closed, the building served as a gathering place for those who came each year on the third Tuesday in August for "graveyard working." "That went on from the time my mother was a little girl and before," Casper says. "The cemetery would be all grown up in weeds and briers and thorns. We'd, each family, would clean out its own gravesites. It was a homecoming affair."

The time came--about 1945--when Hwy. 25 was rerouted, and the old building had to be moved. It was hauled across the road to a field and used as a hay barn for several years. Then at the annual meeting of the Old Lebanon Cemetery ASsociation at Eaton, August 18,1953, it was voted to acquire the building, locate it on cemetery property, restore it as a historic landmark, and convert it to a cemetery and community chapel. Between 350-400 persons attended the meeting.

The group named three trustees, Will Jean, Smithville now deceased; Filmore Casper, Lynn (Revis Caspers uncle), now a resident of Lawrence Hall, Walnut Ridge; and Earl Stewart (brother of Roy and Cleo Stewart). Earl and his wife, Lois, live between Eaton and Powhatan and recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Elton Jean (Jean Arnold), brother of Will, also deceased, was treasurer for the trustees.

A report of the meeting in the August 20, 1953 Times Dispatch read in part: "Trustees are to select a method of obtaining money, material or labor to replace old logs in the building, give it a new roof, and otherwise restore it to good condition." "Dinner was spread at the noon hour, after which the Rev. E.A. Lindsey of Walnut Ridge made a brief address. In the audience were people who had gone to school in the Old Lebanon Church building and whose parents and grandparents had gone to school there. The meetin is held annually as a sort of homecoming and for the purpose of cleaning up the cemetery.

In 1955 there was another article in the Times Dispatch written by Revis Casper which reported progress on restoration and asked for donations totaling $300 to complete the work. He wrote:

"The building has already been purchased and moved to grounds adjacent to the cemetery. Some of the men have gone to the woods and made cypress boards and cut pole rafters to be used in recovering the building. It has been more than half covered, using materials as near the original type as possible. Pole rafters have been put together with wooden pegs and the entire roof will be made of cypress boards of native cypress. "The building is to have a concrete floor and will be suitable for funerals or other small cemetery gatherings."

"$300 is needed to complete payment for the building and to pay for additional materials. All labor is donated. Those who have loved ones buried in the cemetery are asked to send a contribution to one of the trustees..."

Faithfully restored, the log building was used as projected. People in the community voted there, the American Legion met there, and small funeral services were held in the chapel.

Ernie Deane wrote a beautiful story about the church which was published with pictures in the August 29,1965 Arkansas Gazette. Headlined "The Lebanon Church--A Memorial to Faith," he wrote in part, "Most such structures as this have long since fallen victim to fire, storm, neglect, or the urge of newer generations to `modernize'...

"In its time the log building has served as church, school and hay barn. Nowadays it's sometimes used for special occasions such as the annual cemetery "working" on the third Tuesday of August and the annual Casper-Richey family reunion on the Sunday before Labor Day. Other families also use is as a homecoming site. Throughout the year from its spot in the trees by the road, about eight miles from Powhatan and near the community of Eaton, it gives passersby a reminder of days long gone when the world moved more slowly--and at least three church members would sit to hear a sermon two hours long."

The cemetery workings ceased when the Cemetery Association started a trust fund and was able to hire the work done. But special occasions still occur. In August 1980, Terry Jean, son of Ray Jean and grandson of cemetery trustee, Will Jean and Kimberly Cox were married in the Lebanon Church. Preliminary documents have been submitted to the Arkansas Historic Preservation for its registration as a historic landmark.