Bear Creek Church, near Hannibal, Missouri

The old stone meeting house of Bear Creek Church, at Hannibal, Missouri, has been been a landmark in the community for over 150 years. There has been some damage by vandalism, which needs to be repaired. The church building and cemetery are owned by the Bear Creek Cemetery Association.

Bear Creek Church was organized in August 1821, making it the first church constituted north of the Salt River. A log building with a slave gallery preceded the current stone structure, which was erected in 1856. Norman Rockwell used the church as a model and setting for a church scene, which was one of the illustrations in the 1936 edition of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," by Mark Twain (original copyright 1875). A slave, Agness Flahtleroy, who belonged to the family of Hannibal's Laura Hawkins, the model for Becky Thatcher, a character in several of Mark Twain's books, is also buried in the cemetery.

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This page maintained by: Robert Webb - (bwebb9@juno.com)