The Travelling Church

Elijah Craig, did not come with the rest of the Church, as he remained for a while in Virginia to help James Madison establish constitutional religious liberty assurances before joining the group later.

The group's pioneering members were to found many churches (including the first north of the Kentucky River), settlements, and other institutions that continue to this day.

William Ellis as Joshua led the huge train over the frozen and danger-filled Cumberland Gap with only a little loss of life into the rugged frontier of Kentucky for their Promised Land.

They crossed the Appalachians through the Cumberland Gap, continued north up the Wilderness Road, and ultimately settled in central Kentucky, establishing their first church and community at Gilbert's Creek.

[13] This memorial by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Kentucky for "The Travelling Church, 1781" is also known as State Marker 25 and is located on KY 39/Lancaster Rd, ca.

On the other side of the current road next to Gilbert's Creek they erected the wooden stockade fort known as Craig's Station, where the settlers lived.

[20] They are the third-oldest Baptist church in Kentucky and, although moved a short distance from the original site, still continue regular worship today.

Roadside State Marker 25 for The Travelling Church in front of the hill atop which they built their first fortified church in the wilderness of pioneer Kentucky.
Roadside memorial for "The Travelling Church, 1781" by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America.
Monument erected on hilltop site of historic Gilbert's Creek Church.
Memorial tablet to "The Travelling Church" on the hilltop monument.