Built in 1885 in the Morgana Community near Clarks Hill, South Carolina, the Dothan Methodist Church was active until the 1930s. For a fuller history, you can read more at the South Carolina Picture Project.
There is a small adjacent cemetery that resembles most rural Southern cemeteries. There is one headstone that stood out. It was the grave of Marjorie “Jerry” Scott, a woman who served as an ensign during World War II. She served as a codebreaker. You can read more about her in her obituary. It is estimated of the 10,000 women who served in the war, almost half helped decipher codes on behalf of the United States.
In 2024, I photographed the ruins of the O’Neal AME Church. At the time, I had not realized the cemetery was across the street, hidden in the woods. Recently, the cemetery has been under threat because a massive data center is being built around it. My friend and I decided to visit the cemetery. We were both interested in seeing how close the clearing for the data center was to the property lines and wanting to document any remaining headstones.
We walked the boundary lines of the cemetery. First, the cemetery is completely fenced in, with an approximately 75-foot buffer.
One of the vernacular markers in the cemetery
The cemetery itself was abandoned long ago based on early headstone photos. There is a mixture of professionally engraved headstones, vernacular, Eldren Baileys, and at least two dozen fieldstones. All cemeteries are important, but this cemetery contains the remains of people who were likely enslaved based on birthdate. The last obituary I could locate is from 1967. According to FindAGrave, the last burial appears to be in 1967. From historic aerials, it appears the church’s roof collapsed sometime in the late 1950s.
Reuben (1810-1890) and his wife, Eliza, are documented in the census records for Henry County for 1870 and 1880.Eliza Keith (1820-1895)Thomas ThrasherThe metal fence likely marks off a family plot.
Based on tax records, the ruins of the O’Neal AME Church will likely be demolished in the coming year, since the company “Hampton Technology Park,” out of Atlanta, owns the land being developed now and the land where the church is located. The address for Hampton Technology Park is 1776 Peachtree Street, which lists a few real estate companies as tenants, so further research would be needed to determine who owns the land.
The images below are from Qpublic.
The cemetery boundaryLand owned by Hampton Technology Park
The cemetery should be restored. The people buried here help tell the story of Henry County. Hopefully, there will be enough interest to save it.
The penny indicates someone visited this headstone and left it as a memento.In Black cemetery traditions, a pitcher can represent a connection or passage to the afterlife. Until people started stealing the items, these grave goods could be found frequently in Geechee Gullah cemeteries.
Mountain Creek AME Church is located in Sunter County. The main church building was constructed in 1890. The fellowship hall was added in 1990.
This building was on the property. The abandoned piano makes me wonder if it was the old Sunday school. It could have been an old school. I don’t believe it is an old church because tar paper isn’t typically used on churches.
Mother Easter Baptist Church was founded in 1894 in Moultrie, Georgia, by Rev. James O. Kelley and several community leaders. The church was named in honor of “Mother Easter,” believed to be Easter Smith, a widow who allowed worship services to be held in her home before the church was built. After early growth and multiple relocations due to fires in 1903 and 1905, the congregation purchased this location in 1906.
Rev. Kelley served as the first pastor, followed by a succession of leaders who guided the church through rebuilding and expansion. Notable growth occurred under Rev. J.J. Strickland from 1942 to the late 1950s, when membership increased significantly and the church was remodeled with an added annex. In 1962, Rev. Emory Harrison Hopkins became the church’s first full-time pastor. The congregation moved into their current structure in 1985.
The Old Saint Teresa Catholic Church is the oldest church in Albany, Georgia. Built by enslaved craftspeople, construction began in 1859 but was halted during the Civil War. It was completed in 1882. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
This Space Age mid-century chapel is located on the Norman College campus in Norman Park, Georgia.
Completed in 1960, it was funded by Ada Norman Baker, a trustee of the college and the daughter of the town’s founder, who donated $15,000 toward its construction.
The architect, however, remains a mystery. I would love to get my hands on old Norman College yearbooks and local newspapers to see if the answer might be hiding there.
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