On a rural road in Putnam County, Georgia, Alice Walker’s childhood home and church can be visited. While the house where she was born no longer stands, her family’s home is still standing.
Ward’s Chapel AME was built in the late 1800s. Thanks to a community effort the church has been restored in the last few years. This was Alice Walker’s church. Many of her ancestors, including her parents, rest in the cemetery across the road.
Benevolence Baptist Church was formed in 1840 in the Benevolence Community of Randolph County, Georgia. The first structure was built in 1842. The current Gothic Revival church was built in 1906.
The Pineville Baptist Church congregation was founded in 1835. The Spanish moss is an unexpected find this far inland.
St. Helena’s was established in 1712 as a colonial parish by The Commons House of Assembly, under the Lords Proprietors of Carolina. Construction began in 1715. The church has been expanded and rebuilt to accommodate growth of the congregation and to make repairs after the Civil War and when a hurricane caused significant damage.
One of the earliest burials was Colonel John Barnwell (1671-1724).
Sheldon Church, once known as the Prince William Parish Church, has a long history. The congregation held its first service in 1757. The British troops burned the church in 1779. It was rebuilt in 1826 with the walls that were still standing.
Originally it was believed the church was burned by Sherman’s troops. It came to light with unearthed documents that stated the church was burnt but ransacked by local people who needed supplies.
Built around 1740 to give planter’s access to church when traveling to their home church was too difficult, the Chapel was out on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The tabby church was damaged in an 1868 forest fire. There is a small burial ground adjacent to the church with one distinctive mausoleum.
