The history of Bryant Holiness Church and Cemetery.

The land was donated by Rebecca Campbell and her husband William Henry Harrison Bryant to The North Alabama Methodist Episcopal Conference. The original land patent for this property was obtained by Rebecca's brother William Campbell in 1895. Prior to that the land was unclaimed and unpurchased being used as squatters land, as was much of the unclaimed land on Sand Mountain.

It is unknown as to when the original church was built. It was called Bryant Chapel after the donators of the land and carried the denomination of Methodist Episcopal. The first acknowledgement of it can be found in a news article appearing in The Progressive Age in July of 1893 mentioning the growing progress of the church. It was found called this as late as 1962. In 1932, the original church was destroyed by a tornado. It was not rebuilt until 1938 with a well attended dedication. After that it changed denominations a couple of times, eventually becoming Bryant Holiness as it is today.

As for the cemetery, it is uncertain as to the date of origin. It appears it started sometime after 1880 as the first marked grave is Mary O'Neal, dying in 1883 along with her husband William in 1886. C.P. Bryant, son of George also died in 1886. Several Bryant children of William and George died in the 1890's. Also Jesse Cargile in 1892. Mary Griffin in 1897 was confirmed but is unmarked. All these are found in the center of the cemetery which is obvious as to being the oldest part. The cemetery is still being used by the descendants of these first settlers and as a community cemetery by the church as of the year 2022.

Land donor, William Bryant was a farmer, owned a gristmill and was appointed postmaster of the mountain-top section of Carpenter (Long Island), taking the position in 1901 after his youngest brother George Washington Bryant resigned the position. The town itself was at that time called Carpenter or Carpenter's station, so named after the Carpenter family who were some of the first settlers to the area . It was not until after 1910 that the town began to be referred to as Bryant, along with the bluff area that was previously called Jamestown.

History provided by Vella Thornhill (Bryant family descendant) and Bobby and Judy Laney Liles.