I first photographed the Lone Star Benevolent Society Hall in January 2022 with my friend Brian Brown. When I visited Waynesboro last week, I drove by to see how it looked. Much to my dismay, the hall had collapsed. I know Burke County did experience significant damage from Hurricane Helene. I could not find any information about its demise.
It was a contributing property to the Waynesboro Historic District. The image below is from the National Register of Historic Places nomination packet.
Aurora Lodge No. 54, Free and Accepted Masons, Prince
Hall Affiliate, and New Aurora Chapter No. 60, Order of the Eastern Star, are located across the street from Thankful Missionary Baptist
Church. Aurora Lodge No. 54 was started in 1883. The two-story, brick building was constructed in the 1950s. The organizations meet on the second floor. At one point, a store was open on the first floor.
The Thankful Missionary Baptist Church in Waynesboro, Georgia, was founded in 1878. It was part of the Walker Baptist Association, which comprised of Black churches in and around the greater Augusta, Georgia area.
The two-tower church differs from many of the two-tower churches seen around the rural South. Most include a gable in the middle. This one utilizes a flat roofline. The church was built in 1923 in the Romanesque Revival style. Romanesque Revival, in its most modest form, like this church, includes brick, towers, and arched entranceways.
The Old McCanaan Missionary Baptist Church, now the First McCanaan Baptist Church, was founded in 1875. Many of the founding members were sharecroppers from the nearby Millhaven Plantation. It served as a spiritual gathering place the Black men and women of the area. The first building for the church was lost due to fire. By 1912, the new building was erected, which the congregation still uses today.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 for as an excellent example of Gothic Revival in a rural Southern church.
Noah’s Ark Baptist Church was organized in 1864 in Burke County, Georgia. It was one of the founding churches for newly freedmen and women in Burke County. Starting under a brush arbor, the congregation moved into a tenant located near where their current church building stands.
Noah Smith donated land to build the first church. after the first two buildings were destroyed by wind and fire, They moved to their following location, where two more buildings were built. The building above was built in 1883 at a cost of $1900. It was in use until 2006. The congregation is now active at a new sanctuary.
McCullough Covenant Baptist Church was founded May 14, 1876 (the second Sunday in May) when Adam and Henrietta McCullough, a freed husband and wife, donated land to start the church on the spot they considered the most beautiful on their land. Many parishioners came from Pine Hill Baptist Church (still an active congregation).
Mr. McCullough owned at least 900 acres of land by the time he passed. From what I can pull together via Ancestry.com records, he and his first wife, Henrietta, were born in the 1820s. From later census records, the McCulloughs had at least four children (Delilah, Jonah, Mahala, and Cornelious).
Based on their ages, I believe that they were all born into slavery. I am unable to confirm, but I believe they were likely enslaved by Calvin McCullough, a planter from Burke County. According to the 1860 Slave Census, Calvin McCullough enslaved 36 people. There are no other McCulloughs in Burke County in the 1860 slave census. Ages and sex match up closely with the ages and sexes of the McCullough family.
According to information shared on findagrave, the family also has ties to Gray’s Grove Baptist Church.
