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 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.
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.
If you know more about this church and cemetery, please let me know.
Faith Chapel was constructed in 1904 for the exclusive Jekyll Island Club members. The Shingle Style church was built for interdenominational use, replacing Union Chapel, which was moved to the area where the Black employees lived at the Jekyll Island Club. The Jeykll Island Club was later purchased by the State of Georgia and opened to the public.
The chapel is known for its stained glass windows. The Stickney Memorial Window was created by noted stained glass designers, Maitland Armstrong and Helen Armstrong, and dedicated in 1905. It was installed in the memory of Joseph Stickney, a founding member of the Jekyll Island Club.
The second window, known as the Bourne Memorial Window, was crafted by renowned stained glass artist Louis Comfort Tiffany. Tiffany visited Jekyll Island multiple times, and the Jekyll Island Club members commissioned him to create this window in memory of Frederick Bourne, the Club’s former president who passed away in 1919. It depicts, “David Set Singers Before the Lord.” The window was installed in 1921 and underwent complete restoration in 2021.
Animal grotesques accompany the beauty of the stained glass windows. There are six inside the chapel. On the outside of the building, rain spouts are gargoyles inspired by the ones at Notre Dame Cathedral.
St. Athanasius’ Episcopal Church of Brunswick, Georgia, began in 1883 when two women from St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Brunswick, Mary King Troupe and Louise Nightingale, started a Sunday School for the Black community. By 1885, the mission had grown, and St. Athanasius’ Episcopal Church was officially organized, named after Athanasius of Alexandria, a prominent African saint.
The current church building replaced the original wooden church, which was destroyed by a storm in 1896. The Gothic-Revival influenced church is made of tabby and is one of the few remaining tabby structures from the 19th century still standing in Brunswick. In 1946, the tabby was covered in stucco.
A major renovation in 2000 included the installation of stained glass memorial panels, featuring three panels that honor Civil Rights Movement leaders.
Researching Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church has proven to be complicated. According to tax records, the eclectic Gothic Revival church was built in 1916. Unfortunately, in the Augusta Chronicle, it was hard to decipher which Mt. Olive Baptist Church was being discussed, as there was one in Louisville, Georgia, that had frequent mentions in the paper. I hoped there would be an article about its history, but I do not know the church’s history. I will update the post if I get more information.
The Harrisburg neighborhood of Augusta, Georgia is located near the Augusta Canal on Greene Street. It was a once thriving mill village that is now a neighborhood in transition after the last mill closed in the early 2000s. Christ Church was founded in 1882. it was established to serve the mill workers, who were were poorly paid and unable to afford to travel to other Episcopal churches in Augusta.
Edward W. Platt, a local property owner, donated land for the church. The church building was relocated to the area when the Church of the Good Shepherd outgrew its building. In 1883, the Carpenter Gothic church was rolled down the hill from Summerville to Harrisburg, where it still stands today.
The church grew over the years and became a key resource to the Harrisburg families. Under the leadership of Deaconness Ruth Byllesby, the church became a Neighborhood House to support mill families. Deaconness Byllesby ministered for the church from 1927 to 1943. Her good work in serving the families and children of the area helped keep people fed and clothed, even during the Depression. Because of her good work, the Diocese of Georgia declared her a diocesan saint.
Christ Church attained parish status in 1951. While the Episcopal congregation has disbanded, the mission of supporting Harrisburg residents continues today. You can read more about the church and its continued services here.
