Moses Chapel AME Church was built in 1877 during a time when AME church congregations were popping up all across the country, especially in the South. Prior to the end of the Civil War, most congregations were in the North and Midwest, but as the Confederacy fell, newly freed Black men and women sought to start new churches. By 1880, there were almost 400,000 members of the AME church.
Established in 1864, Clark Chapel is the oldest African American church in Morgan County. This church sits on Hill Street in the Madison Historic District.
Eldren Bailey (1903-1987) was a sculptor known for large concrete sculptures. Born in Flovilla, Georgia, he moved to Atlanta at an early age. He first worked with the railroads, but he later became a mason. Many of his sculptures were brightly colored and adorned his front yard. Where he was most prolific though was helping many Black-owned funeral homes with the creation of grave markers.
Admittedly, I had always interpreted these as temporary markers, and for some families, they might have been true. For many, these markers are now permanent. Bailey’s markers differ from many of the other concrete markers seen in Black cemeteries.
Some of his larger pieces did end up in museums, but many of the sculptures seen in his front yard have disappeared.
For more reading, I suggest the following:
Books recommendations
Opened in 1902, the Wallace Grove Church and School were built after land was donated by W. P. Wallace in 1901. (My assumption is that this is William Pierce Wallace, who was a local banker and merchant in the area.) The one-room schoolhouse was used until the 1960s to educate Black schoolchildren.
The school fell into disrepair. In 2011, the congregation came together to restore the school. With assistance from the community, the school was fully restored in under a year. It is the only extant turn-of-the-century schoolhouse still standing in its original location.
This is oldest known home in Morgan County, Georgia. It was built around 1805. This plantation plain is on remarkably well-maintained land. I understand there is a plan to stabilize and save the home.
Built in 1906, this house is part of the Nolan plantation, Morgan County, Georgia. It is the second Nolan home on the property. The other one is supposedly still standing but isn’t easily accessible. The Nolan family built their wealth on the backs of enslaved labor prior to the Civil War. After the war, they switched to a sharecropping method of farming. There’s been talk for several years to preserve the home, but restoration has not been started. The Madison-Morgan Conservancy have been trying to get work done. The home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
