Historic Churches By Gail Ellen Daly Jackson County offers residents and visitors 91 places of worship, according to information found in the Commerce Library’s Heritage Room. Some are imposing brick structures with soaring spires. Others are small, simple white clapboard structures. Newer churches can be found in more modern, and/or modest, settings. Many congregations date back more than 200 years and have a rich tradition. Others are notable for an unusual history; all have a story to tell. Here are a few. Oconee Baptist Church Oconee Baptist Church was established in 1788, four years after a small settlement along the North Oconee River reached 40 people. It is not only the oldest church in the county, it predates Jackson County as a governmental entity by eight years. Settlers built a log house at what is now Hurricane Shoals; Dr. Henry Therrault, a medical missionary, became the first minister. Unfortunately, Indians killed Rev. Therrault in 1801. Settlers retaliated by killing the offending Indians. That same year the church moved to Flat Shoals, 3 miles upriver. It remained there until 1852 when it moved to its Hwy. 82 site in the Dry Pond community. The new building consisted of one large room with two woodturning stoves. Kerosene lamps lit the interior until 1939, Sunday School classes were in various sections of the large room, curtains divided the classes. Actually, none of the early churches had electricity until the late 1930s when rural electrification arrived. Members built two Sunday School rooms, one on either side of the building, in 1946. Services were held the first Sunday of each month, sometimes in the morning, sometimes afternoons. During the 1960s the small rural church added a second monthly service, and finally services took place every week. Added improvements followed—restrooms, a baptismal pool, new lighting, air conditioning, paved driveways, a picnic shelter and a bus. In March 1990, two years after celebrating 200 years of continuous worship, members completed their new church building with a 330-seat sanctuary. “We were worshipping in a sanctuary that was 138 years old,” said Rev. James Dumas at the June 3, 1990, dedication. The old church building still exists, said Shirley Wilson, a building committee member, “now our goal is to build a Family Life Center.” For eight years, Oconee’s original log cabin remained the region’s only house of worship. However, the same year the state legislature carved a sparsely settled Jackson County from 1,800 acres of wilderness, two new congregations came into existence. Sometime in 1795, Rev. John Newton, a Pennsylvania native, became a Presbyterian missionary in Georgia. In charge of churches in Madison and Oglethorpe counties, while touring he discovered a location for a new church 4 or 5 miles from Jefferson on the Harrison farm. Thyatira Presbyterian Church Late that year, settlers organized a church known as Olney-ThyatiraPresbyterian Church and built a small wooden structure. It is not known how long the church remained at the original site, but it later moved near Curry Creek and was sometimes called Curry’s Creek Church. Services took place the first Sunday of each month. The Presbytery went on record as “being opposed to worldly indulgences (dancing and desecration of the Sabbath).” On April 1, 1820, the church reported 20 members. Since slaves had no church of their own, they entered through a side door where a corner of the building was set aside so they could worship with their “white folks.” Summer camp meetings, which were held at the Thyatira campground due its central location, drew 2,000-3,000 people from across the area. By 1851 membership reached 165. Five years later the church reorganized, dropped the name Olney and, after J.M. Potts donated 10 acres of land, moved to its current location. Near the end of the 1880s the Athens Presbytery felt that Thyatira was strong enough to divide, and in 1887 members living in Jefferson organized the Jefferson Presbyterian Church. The next year, African-American members asked to organize their own church. After granting the request, that new church was first called the Thyatira Colored Church, but the name was soon changed to Sardis Presbyterian Church. When members dedicated a Sunday School addition on Oct. 21, 1951, Wilhite noted, “the lumber was from trees on church property.” But time has not been kind to the 212-year-old congregation. The traditional country church, set back from Hwy. 15A, has lost membership and said, Wilhite “is struggling.” Services are held the first and third Sundays of each month. Jefferson First United Methodist Church Unfortunately, nothing exists telling exactly when Jefferson FirstUnited Methodist Church was organized as fire destroyed the records. It is known, however, that the first church building was constructed about 1806, shortly after Jackson County was incorporated. The first church, located on a hill in Woodbine Cemetery, faced Oak Street. About 1845, the building was dismantled and moved to a site near the present location on Martin Street. The deed describes the site, called Mitchell’s Hill, as “an oak grove containing 1 acre of land.” Members built a wood building in the Greek Revival style; a structure that was torn down in 1905, making way for a new building. “The Methodists will worship in the Presbyterian Church until a new one is built,” wrote The Jackson Herald on Oct. 13, 1905. The second wood building boasted stained glass windows depicting Christian symbols and “a sweet-toned bell” that rang on Sundays. Unfortunately, its life was cut short as the church burned to the ground on a windy March day in 1925. The fire spread down the hill to the covered bridge over Curry Creek on Sycamore Street. With a construction loan of $64,000, the current church building was completed in June 1926. The church’s beautiful building, built of native fieldstone in the English village style, came from fields around Jefferson, with inner walls of brick and outer walls of stone. In the interim, services took place in Martin Institute (the city’s high school), or at the Baptist, Christian and Presbyterian churches. When Martin Institute burned in 1942, the church repaid the favor as classes were held in the building for four years. Church members proudly point out the beautiful needlepoint kneeling cushions with Christian symbols that a group of churchwomen completed in the late 1960s. The project involved 2 million stitches and 3,300 hours of work. In 1982, a fellowship hall behind the church was built with brick and rock to match the church. On April 23, 2006, Jefferson Methodist Church celebrated its bicentennial. With 406 members, the church offers two Sunday morning services—one at 9 a.m. and another at 11 a.m. “And a building committee is looking into future growth,” said member Ann Jarrett. Antioch United Methodist Church In 1799, before Jefferson residents organized their Methodist church, James Glenn donated 4 acres of his property for a church building in the east part of the county. Located in Nicholson, on what is now Antioch Church Road, the deed claimed that if it ever ceased to be a church, the land would go back into the Glenn estate. In those early days, when a circuit rider from Athens conducted services once a month, people came to Antioch United Methodist Church by buggy, wagon, on foot and on horseback. Billy Smith, who bought 2,000 acres from Glenn, helped enlarge the church during his lifetime. A schoolhouse was built near the church, and when it burned some years later, the church building also housed the school. It’s not known why the church turned dormant in the early 1900s. Broomsedge and blackberry briars grew, the roof rotted and rain seeped in, warping the ceiling. About 1915, W.H. Pace had his farmhands saw wood and make shingles to repair the structure. Until 1928, attendance was on again, off again. Even into the mid-1930s Antioch had services in spurts. A few Depression years saw total inactivity. Money was in short supply and, said John Keasler, “Stewards went into the community to pay the preacher, sometimes in chickens, vegetables or fresh meat.” After 1935 the church revitalized and, with regular worship services and Sunday school, by 1954 members agreed to move the old building and build a new sanctuary. Membership topped 100. “All work was done by local people,” said church historian Beulah Tolbert Smith. “Workdays were every Saturday for a year.” Antioch became a full-service church in the early 1980s and doubled the size of its fellowship hall in 1985. At one time, the immediate area boasted three Methodist churches—Antioch, Nicholson and Center. Nicholson Church closed in 1994 and Center a few years later. Currently, Antioch has 152 members, but has seen no impact from the new homes springing up nearby. “Visibility is a drawback,” said Rev. Robert Passmore, the current pastor. “When the road becomes busy as more homes are built we’ll have more visibility.” Mountain Creek Baptist Church Mountain Creek Baptist Church’s history begins in 1868, when Rev. W.H. Bridges “went into the community of Mountain Creek with a bible and school book in one hand and an ax in the other.” Two years later, plantation owners Francis Whitmire, Terrell Murphy and Nacy Carlisle decided to build a school. But when they completed work, the 1871 school term had already started. Instead, on Oct. 1, 1872, church services began in the new schoolhouse once a month. Whitmore and Murphy suggested naming the church for the community it served—The Baptist Church at Mountain Creek. At some point, the name shortened. For nine years, until members bought land, services took place in the school. Members, who also came from Talmo, Belmont and Pendergrass, finally had a house of worship in 1880 when the new church building was completed. The church prospered into the early 1900s, but in 1911 Talmo built its own church, and some members left. In the 1920s and 1930s the most pressing need was enough money to carry on. Members farmed a cotton patch on an acre of land. Each member donated time to cultivate the crop and all proceeds went to the church. In 1921, conference was cancelled due to a smallpox epidemic. Times remained hard until 1948. Around that time it was decided to buy individual glasses for communion services. “This could have been done for health reasons,” explained Virginia Cook, a longtime member, “but I wonder if it wasn’t because most men had had a chew of tobacco before coming into church.” Cook recalls going to a revival meeting in a two-horse wagon, stopping by a watermelon patch on the way home. “I have been a member of Mountain Creek for 47 years,” she wrote in 2003. “I recall some things that were funny, but some are sad.” Church decorum was very strict, she noted, and any violation “would be reproved as the church thought proper.” Swearing, intoxication, unbecoming conduct, even a missed conference meeting would be dealt with. Mountain Creek Baptist Church has grown from 30-50 members to almost 200 members since Rev. Jeff Graham arrived as assistant pastor in 2006. Less than a year ago he became its pastor. “He has truly sparked interest in the church,” said Virginia Cook, “especially among the young people.” Cook, who grew up in the church and has served as its pianist for 60 years, said the youth group grew from about 15 to about 48 members. Not long ago, 45 teens from Mountain Creek Baptist went to Atlanta to help feed the hungry. Every Sunday services are held at 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. The original building on Mountain Creek Church Road still serves as the sanctuary, although it has been bricked and remodeled over the years. The fellowship hall was added in 1952. Recently, members bought the field across the street and plan to build a new, larger church. Gail Ellen Daly is a freelance writer and former newspaper reporter living in Apple Valley with her husband and animals.
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