All posts by Cynthia Jennings

Black History, Cemeteries, Churches, Famous People, Georgia, Historic Photos, Schools

Good Shepherd Episcopal Church and School-Pennick, Georgia

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The Good Shepherd Episcopal Church and School are two buildings that remain of a historic Black community known as Pennick in Glynn County, Georgia. The school and church were founded by Deaconess Anna Alexander in the early 20th Century. Deaconess Alexander was the first Black deaconess in the Episcopal Church. in 1998, she was named a Saint of Georgia by the Diocese of Georgia.

The school building is one of my favorite schoolhouses. It is listed as a Place in Peril by The Georgia Trust of Historic Preservation.

Deaconess Alexander’s final resting place is in front of the schoolhouse.

Cemeteries, Churches, Georgia, Vernacular Headstones

Oak Hill United Methodist Church-Rains Landing, Georgia

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This church’s cemetery contains two of the Madonna figures that my friend and I found on a road trip through Camden County. The can trace its roots to the years before the Civil War. The current church buildings were in the last few decades.

The Madonna figures can be seen as a collective here.

Black History, Cemeteries, Churches, Georgia

Clinch Chapel Methodist Church-Camden County, Georgia

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Macchca Mowat Alderman

This church traces its roots to right after the Civil War. The first church was built in 1896. The current structure was built in 1992.

This cemetery features a mixture of headstones. Many contain concrete markers with applique cherubs and hands. One of the more intriguing markers is the Madonna bust which can be found in several cemeteries along the coast. Of the ones I’ve found, the churches are several miles apart and in different counties. Both the applique markers and the Madonna busts communicate the regional nature of vernacular markers. The Madonna markers can all be seen here.

Peter Jackson, 1888-1938
Reverend John Mungin
R. M. Pinkey, 1858-1923. This marker features a Masonic symbol in the center.