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American and British soldiers are believed buried in unmarked graves at Speedwell Presbyterian Church in Rockingham County — according to oral history that’s passed from generation to generation.

“There is a tradition that that’s true, but you’re dealing with legend there — there’s no documented evidence of it,” said Bob Carter, Rockingham County’s historian, who will give a 30-minute walking tour of the 250-year-old congregation’s cemetery, while telling these stories, after Sunday’s service.

Carter agrees the lore is consistent with local history that has been well-documented.

“It was an important place during the Revolution,” Carter said of the stretch of land including Speedwell, between Guilford County and the Virginia border.

Speedwell is the oldest church in Rockingham County and one of the oldest in the Piedmont, with the first documented mention in denomination records in 1759. These possible ties to the American Revolution add intrigue to a small congregation of fewer than 100 whose members have bloodlines that date back almost as far.

“That’s one thing we say to each other today, that we have this heritage from people who were determined to keep this congregation alive,” said Nori Torbert, a member of the church who produces the Speedwell Presbyterian newsletter. The church is on the outskirts of Reidsville in the Swepsonville community.

“It was unusual for a small congregation like this to be in existence in the same spot, the same general area, for 250 years,” Torbert said of the church, which is listed by the N.C. Historical Society and the Registry of Historical Churches of America.

The church takes its name from an early landmark: a business that became a township itself. Joseph Buffington of Pennsylvania set up Speedwell Furnace, also known as Troublesome Iron Works, around the time of the Revolutionary War. Speedwell forge was the name of a process in making iron.

“We do know that during the Revolutionary War, February 1781, that the British came through this area,” said Carter, who also serves as publications editor of the Rockingham County Historical Society.

“(Charles Lord) Cornwallis was pursuing Gen. (Nathanael) Greene, and they were racing to the Dan River in Virginia,” Carter said. “Greene thought if he could get there, he could get new supplies and men.”

Greene camped at the iron works, within a mile of the church. He is also believed to have kept an office in the log church building before the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on March 15, 1781. Afterward, Greene retreated to the area, staying three to four days, before marching to the southeast.

Slaves, too, are buried in the woods to the south of the church, which largely attracted nearby farmers. The oldest marker, a stone now kept in a glass case in the vestibule, is also a story in itself, Carter says.

“It’s 'Milton Bennett, infant’ and says the child died in 1739 — now that is a mystery to historians, too,” Carter said of the stone, which has been authenticated. “I have talked with a number of people and as far as we know, there is nobody living here at that time.”

Speedwell’s personalities in the early years included David Caldwell, the pastor of two churches at the time, including Buffalo Creek Presbyterian Church in Guilford County. Caldwell also founded the local presbytery or governing body for Presbyterians.

Caldwell, who preached at Speedwell until a regular preacher could be found, is known for serving on the N.C. Ratification Convention of the U.S. Constitution. The preacher fought to hold back the state’s approval of the Constitution until a Bill of Rights was added.

“It is a very interesting history,” said Charles Rodenbough, a former Speedwell pastor’s spouse whose upcoming novel about Caldwell, “If the Lord is Willing and the Creek Stays Low,” is to be published later this year.

Caldwell also established the most influential school-academy in the colonial south, the Log College in Greensboro, near Caldwell Park. Among his students were six young men who would go on to be governors. Much of the Presbyterian clergy of the frontier generation also began their training under Caldwell, including Speedwell’s first recorded minister, James McGready.

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin @news-record.com