Established 1833 Pastor Jack Holt
This church and cemetery are found northeast of Clarksville. From Clarksville you’ll take FM 1159 for about 3 miles to the to FM1700. There, you’ll turn right and head East about 2.9 miles. Turn right on CR 3205. Just down the road a short way is Shiloh Church and the Madras Cemetery. I found this church and cemetery while driving around on Google Maps and satellite views looking for a place to photograph the 2024 solar eclipse. I preferred to have wide open fields/pastures to shoot time lapse. I was pleasantly surprised to find this little church that appears to be well maintained as does the cemetery. There isn’t a large parking lot so I don’t know how many it serves. I’d love to learn more. I’m not a Presbyterian but my cousin is a Presbyterian pastor and I love to learn about church’s histories especially these in the rural areas of America.
The sky was partly cloudy. It was mostly cloudy when we got there but clouds broke up as the morning met noon and we had an hour left before totality. There was another couple there situated near the cemetery with their camera gear and chairs. We met them when we came up to the location and introduced ourselves. They are originally from North Carolina but said they were visiting here from the area in DFW near Speedway. They had already seen the last two eclipses, 2017 and 2023. I set up my tripod near the fence to the right of the church facing the West for time lapse. The boys were back near the car seated in their fold out chairs in the shade with their solar shades. As time passed, the sky became darker, the light changed dramatically. The sun was almost covered by the moon and it was almost dark. I noticed the streetlight near the building came on. We waited the 4 minutes 23 seconds taking pictures of the eclipse, standing in almost darkness. There was light to the east and gradually it shifted to the West.
We did not stay long after there was light. It took a bit of time for that moon to move completely away from the sun. We packed up our items and gear, placed carefully in the truck of the car and drove up to the church were we met the other two who were overjoyed to have watched this solar occurrence. We were too. We celebrated my son’s 15th birthday by watching the Solar Eclipse of 2024.
Finding information and history on this historical church was not easy, that is until I searched for Pastor Jack Holt. I found him first at “The Laymen’s Corner” Wednesday 11/27/2013. Laymen’s Corner/Forney Messenger “Faith is the Substance of Things Hoped For, The evidence of things not seen. Heb 1:11. This is the fourth Minister to answer the three questions about the above scriptures. Rev. Jack Holt is Pastor of the Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Oldest church in the state) at Clarksville Texas. In his early years, Jack served as a motivational speaker to various companies. He served in the U. S. Army as a cook, and after retirement attended the Presbyterian Seminary to assume the pastor’s position. He also now sings Gospel songs and does devotionals at four different nursing homes there around Clarksville.” With a bit more googling, I then found him on a video talking about this church. I will share it here. Jack Holt pastor of Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church-Shiloh’s 182 anniversary celebration
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