The church was founded in 1880.
My friend and I had decided we wanted to drive around Burke County taking photos. When I realized that Ahmaud Arbery was buried in Burke, we put it at the top of our list to document. It was a surprise to see this church where a paved road transitions to a dirt road to have a sign honoring Betty White. It shows how she touched many people with her spirit of caring and sense of justice for all.
Some of Ahmaud’s descendants are from Burke County, so it’s not a surprise that this is his final resting place. It’s clear that people are tending to his grave regularly despite its relative remoteness.
Additionally, this cemetery also highlights two grave markers I’ve seen repeated in rural Black cemeteries. One is a marker with the applique cherubs, and the other is the boxy concrete headstone. I’ve seen both types in several cemeteries in Georgia.
The church was founded in July 1908 under the leadership of Rev. W. W. Jones. This church is an offshoot from Bottsford Baptist Church.
Built in 1898, the Lone Star Benevolent Society Hall is one of the oldest buildings in the Black community in Waynesboro, Georgia. Benevolent societies provided death insurance to their members while also providing a place for members to gather. Here is a great article on the history of benevolent societies.
Notice the “lone star” cutouts in the bell tower.
Thank you to Emmett McNair for helping identify this building.
Tied to the Boggs Academy in Keysville, the Blackburn Church began as the Morgan Grove Presbyterian Church in 1907. Five children began school in the church building. Unfortunately, in 1930, the building was destroyed by fire. A new church was built due to the generosity of the Blackburn family. An addition was added in 1962.
Founded in 1926 on the corner of Ivanhoe Plantation, this land was donated by Mrs. Clarissa Dye and her son Rowland Dye to start a one-room schoolhouse. They were the direct descendants of Charles Alden Rowland, the founder of Ivanhoe Plantation.
The school was started when Jim Hall, a sharecropper on Ivanhoe Plantation, asked the Dyes about the possibility of getting land to start the school. When it opened, there were no glass windows, just shutters. It had a white steeple roof. Savella Hall, Jim’s wife, was the first teacher at the school.
Like so many schools, the building had other uses. On the weekend, it served as the benevolent society.
Thank you to the Burke County Archives for confirming the identification of the building and sharing the older photo of the school. Information on the school was pulled from Eugenia Mills Fulcher’s 1999 dissertation, “Dreams do come true: How rural one- and two-room schools influenced the lives of African Americans in Burke County, Georgia, 1930-1955.”
