Bullock County

[Guidedawg]

1.   Bullock County Courthouse Historic District – N. Prarie St.  Union Springs
2.   Foster House – 201 Kennon St.  Union Springs
3.   Merritt School – Old Troy Rd., ½ mile S of US 82  Midway
4.   Sardis Baptist Church – State Rt 223S & County Rd. 22  Union Springs

[Guidedawg]

1.   Bullock County Courthouse Historic District – N. Prarie St.  Union Springs

The Bullock County Courthouse Historic District is a 25.1 acres (10.2 ha) historic district in Union Springs, Alabama which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

It includes the Bullock County Courthouse, a city hall, a Carnegie library, and a First Baptist Church among its 46 contributing buildings.

The courthouse, built in 1871, is Second Empire in style.

[Guidedawg]

2.   Foster House – 201 Kennon St.  Union Springs

The Foster House in Union Springs, Alabama is the best example of Moorish Revival architecture in Alabama. The house was built by Dr. Sterling J. Foster, a physician, who built the house over five years from 1854. The house remained in the Foster family until 1947.

The two-story wood-frame house is capped by a low-slope hipped roof. Its chief distinguishing feature is a two-story three-bay front porch with a deep spandrel at the top. The spandrel is cut out with ogee arches. A small balcony spans the upper level over the center-hall entrance. Double doors at the main entrance and off the balcony open into a center hall. There are two rooms on either side of the hall on both levels. A half-octagonal addition from 1896 houses bathrooms on both levels. Interior woodwork is mainly the house's original Greek Revival trim.

The Foster House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 1998

[Guidedawg]

4.   Sardis Baptist Church – State Rt 223S & County Rd. 22  Union Springs

Settlers from the Edgefield District, South Carolina, organized the Sardis Baptist Church on June 10, 1837. The first building, a log cabin, was constructed in 1841 after John M. Dozier and his wife, Amy Youngblood Dozier, deeded four and one-half acres to the church for a building and cemetery. The present building, constructed in 1850, is an exceptionally fine example of rural antebellum church architecture of Greek Revival style.

Relatively unaltered since construction, its four columns support a full entablature and low-pitched roof. Each of the two primary entrances have double-paneled doors trimmed with unadorned molding, and each side of the building has four tall, shuttered, 18-light windows.

The church ultimately became inactive in the 1950s. The building was renovated and repaired in 1940-41 and then again in 1992-93.

In the cemetery, the oldest tombstone bears the name of Moses E. Martin, died May 18, 1848. Part of the cemetery near the church served the African-American community during the early years. As the need arose for more space, William Andrew Martin and his wife, Nancy Strom Martin, who had bought the adjoining land from the Doziers in 1860, allowed the church to extend the cemetery southward onto their property.

Sardis School, a community school, was located on the church property across the highway from the church on the corner of Highway 223 and County Road 22. Newspaper articles indicate the school was operating in 1861 and 1870. The old Sardis School building was subsequently moved east on County Road 22 where it became, as it remains today, the living room of the Livingston Paulk home.

In 1867, the Buena Vista Masonic Lodge No. 169 was located just north of the church property.

The church was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on December 19, 1991 and the National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 2001.