104 Wheatland Center Road[map]

The Clifton Baptist Church is situated in the hamlet of Clifton at 104 Wheatland Center Road and is the first church to be granted landmark status.  It is a wonderful building that sits in an historic hamlet and is in impressive condition for its age.

In the early 1850’s a group of parishioners from the Belcoda Baptist Church of Wheatland, who lived in Clifton, gathered at the village school house and, thus, formed the church on December 21, 1852.  On February 19, 1853, for the sum of $100, Anan Harmon and his wife, Abigail, deeded to the trustees of the Clifton Baptist Church and Society the plot of land on which the church now stands.

The church building is a classic Greek Revival with the full front pediment gable, belfry on top with a wide band cornice surrounding the original building.  The foundation is of uncut stone; the front doorway (no longer in use) is two paneled doors with a decorative crown above the pilaster that runs all the way up to the cornice.  On the corners of the north side are pilasters extending from sill level to the frieze beneath the cornices.  The steeple has shuttered windows above a matching cornice and frieze with duplicate pilasters on each corner.  It is topped with a half globe, usually painted gold which, in turned, was topped with a tapered six-foot spire.