Location: Carthage Street at Groce Road in Sanford
County: Lee
Original Date Cast: 1949
Settlers from the British Isles migrated to the Carolinas in great numbers in the mid-1700s. In the Cape Fear region, the Presbyterians dominated with churches established by Scottish Highlanders. The first three presbyteries were Orange (1770), Concord (1796), and Fayetteville (1813). The founding of Buffalo Presbyterian Church predated the Fayetteville Presbytery and long predated the establishment of the city of Sanford, within which bounds it now sits.
Buffalo Presbyterian Church was founded in the spring of 1797 and the mother of Presbyterians churches in the area. From the congregation at Buffalo sprang other churches in the community such as Euphronia, St. Andrews, Salem, White Hill, Gulf, Jonesboro, Pocket, and Sanford Presbyterian.
Before the original church was built, the congregation held services in a barn and a log building on nearby property owned by a church member. William D. Patterson was the first minister and was succeeded by William D. Paisley, who served until 1801. Murdock MacMillan was pastor from 1804 to 1820. From 1845 to 1870 Neill McKay served the church. William Sterling Lacy was minister from 1874 to 1888, leaving to accept the pastorate at First Presbyterian Church in Norfolk.
Early in the life of the church morning services were conducted in English, while church members were given the option of attending an afternoon or early evening Gaelic service. The church served members who traveled up to twenty miles to worship. Associated with the church beginning in 1857 was an academy serving males and females, taught by Duncan McIntyre and his wife. Although none of the church founders are buried in its cemetery, it is well kept. The oldest burial is 1857.
References:
Manly Wade Wellman, The County of Moore, 1847-1947 (1962)
William S. Powell, ed., Encyclopedia of North Carolina—entry on Presbyterian Church by George W. Troxler
Sanford Herald, November 22, 1948, and June 1, 1950