On April 8, 1866, Zion Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia, was established by 88 formerly enslaved individuals who left First Baptist Church to form their own congregation. Rev. Ephraem B. Rucker, Zion’s first pastor, laid the foundation with deacons and Sunday School. Growth continued, and it was determined that the church would build its first physical home in 1888 at the corner of Haynes & Lemon Streets.
Eventually, the church built a much larger building across the street to house its much larger congregation. The church is still active today.
The original building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
I don’t remember how I found out about this church, but it’s been on my list for a while to photograph. I finally got the chance to do so this past weekend.
Located in Cherokee County, South Carolina, the Wesley Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church is right at the crossroads of Wilkinsville, a town of approximately 700 people. Wilkinsville is southeast of Gaffney. For those unfamiliar with Gaffney, it’s the town with the big peach butt in the sky off of I-85.
Often when I am researching the history of a place that isn’t well known, I am uncovering a lot of details through news articles and, for churches and cemeteries, obituaries. I must commend the research of Tom Taylor at Random Connections. He did a remarkable deep dive into the history of the Wesley ME Church. If you want in-depth research, please head to his site.
In a nutshell, the congregation was formed in 1915. The stone structure was built in the 1940s after a storm damaged the previous building. While the cemetery is still active and well-maintained, the church closed by 1970.
Wesley Chapel Methodist Church Wilkinsville SC Nov 15, 1943 Willie Edward Corry, School Teacher Architect And Builder Directors Levi Garrett, A. C. Corry, James Love, G. Dewey Harris Workers Jossie Love, Ressie Rodgers, Addie Corry Strossie Mae Harris Treasure John Davis, Beatrice Jefferies Secteary Vestor Harris, Ninnie Hambright Geo W. Davis, Emily Davis
Image from the September 1, 1971 photo spread on Wilkinsville in The Gaffney Ledger
Meansville Baptist Church is located in Pike County, Georgia. Built in the 1880s, the church is a classic gabled-roof church in rural Georgia. The congregation built a new church, and this building was converted to a residence at some point. The building was abandoned many years ago.
I have little information on the Nazarene Baptist Church in Jasper County, South Carolina. The building was constructed in 1960. The earliest listed burial on FindAGrave is in 1901 and belongs to Reverend Calvin Lawton. Lawton had two wives and 23 children. Several of his children are buried in the cemetery, so I suspect Lawton was one of the church’s founders. The church is no longer in use, but the cemetery is active.
I learned about Harmony Hill Cemetery when an account I follow posted images of a ledger stone with marbles. Marbles are one of my favorite folk art finds on headstones, and I will document them whenever I can. I was in Chambers County looking for the William “Rock” Jackson grave markers and decided to find this cemetery.
Note the brick piers.
The cemetery can be found on a dirt road west of Oak Bowery. The easiest path into cemetery lead me to what I believe are the remains of the Harmony Hill Baptist Church.
Research has not given me much information. According to FindAGrave, the earliest burial is 1891. The most recent obituary is from 1971, which matches the last burial in the cemetery. Jeffie Allison (1887-1981) is one of five members of the Allison family buried here.
One of the dozens of field stones in the cemetery.I believe this to be an old grave marker.This is the grave of Lucy Presley (1871-1927). Her headstone is a common handmade one that can be seen in the South. Her grave ledger is decorated with marbles. Close-up of Lucy Presley’s headstoneThese are the graves of brothers James and Luke Moody. They died within six days of each other in 1903. A records search doesn’t show why they died so close to each other.Patsie Jones (d. 1922)
If you know more about this church and cemetery, please let me know.
William Rufus “Rock” Jackson (1808-1892) was a gin operator, miller, and headstone carver who lived and worked in Chambers County, Alabama. Jackson became known for his carving and made many tombstones for his family and community members using local green schist or steatite. Also known as soapstone, steatite is mainly composed of talc, which makes it relatively soft.
Mount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, Alabama
Jackson’s markers, characterized by their distinctive green-blue coloring, can be found throughout eastern Alabama. Colloquially, the stone was also called “blue marble.” The headstones feature a variety of symbols with recognizable lettering. According to Cox (2010), who wrote their thesis on Jackson’s tombstones, the most common elements are hearts and fern branches, but there are dozens of designs in the over 400 markers they documented. Markers have been identified in four counties.
Mount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, Alabama
So far, I have documented the vernacular headstones in three cemeteries: Long Cane Baptist Church in Troup County, Georgia (top image), Mount Hickory Cemetery in Chambers County, and Concord Primitive Baptist Church in Randolph County. One thing I noticed is that not all headstones were oriented toward the east, so it made photographing the headstones a challenge. I will document more headstones during future visits to eastern Alabama.
Mount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, Alabama
If you want to know more, I highly recommend Monica Norton Cox’s thesis about Rock Jackson. It can be found here.
Mount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaMount Hickory Cemetery outside of LaFayette, AlabamaConcord Primitive Baptist Church in Wadley, AlabamaConcord Primitive Baptist Church in Wadley, AlabamaConcord Primitive Baptist Church in Wadley, AlabamaConcord Primitive Baptist Church in Wadley, Alabama
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