Barnwell Baptist Church on Grant Mountain Road in Edneyville was established in 1864. The church was formed from Liberty Baptist Church.
Some members of the church later established Bat Cave Baptist Church in 1892.
Some of the surnames of persons with grave sites in the church cemetery include Lyda, Bradburn, Huntley, McAbee, Barnwell, Connor, Morrison, Green, Rhodes and Laughter.
There are numerous unmarked field stones and illegible field stones in the cemetery.
The oldest graves are those of Isaac Barnwell (1844-1857), Elizabeth Barnwell (1809-1857), and Thomas P. Barnwell (1854-1856).
The cemetery contains the grave site of a soldier who died in World War I.
Sydney Norman McAbee (1894-1918) was born in the Fairview community of Buncombe County, a son of James M. McAbee and Catherine Marshall McAbee. By 1910 the family lived in the Edneyville community of Henderson County. He died of influenza while serving in the Army at Camp Hancock, Ga., near Augusta, Ga.
The grave site of one known Confederate veteran is also located in the cemetery.
Shadrach Llewellyn Laughter enlisted in the 25th N.C. Infantry Regiment, Co. A, Edney’s Greys. He was discharged in May 1862 by reason of disability. He died after 1900.
On Dec. 7, 1991, the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a memorial plaque was placed in the cemetery at Barnwell Baptist Church in memory of Mark Rhodes. Mark Rhodes was killed in action during the attack on Pearl Harbor. His grave site is in Hawaii.