Established in 1859 by Reverend George Linder, Strawberry Chapel AME is the oldest African American church in Laurens County, Georgia. It sits on the land that was once the Cooper Plantation. The church was likely built sometime after the Civil War. A newer church is on the other side of the trees.
Reverend George Linder was the founder of the Strawberry Chapel AME and one of the Original 33, Georgia Black legislators who were forcibly removed from office in 1868.
Linder was a prominent citizen in Laurens County who ran a successful farming operation on land near Strawberry Chapel. He had two wives. His first one passed away right after the conclusion of the Civil War. They had six children. He and his second wife had another ten children.
Outside of Strawberry Chapel, Linder is credited with founding two other Black churches in the county, one was Mt. Pullen AME Church, and the other was New Bethel AME Church. A newspaper article stated that he gave over $100 to start a local church.
St. Paul AME Church was founded in 1877.
Also known as a plantation plain house, the farmhouse is not far from the Laurens and Spartanburg County lines.
This image can be found in the 1914 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Commerce and Labor State of Georgia. Even though I can’t get an exact match, I believe these houses are on Bellevue Avenue. The one furthest away doesn’t seem to exist anymore.
Designed by George Barber, this Queen Anne was built in 1896. It was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey in the 1930s.
