Georgia

Series: Old Country Churches

^{High Shoals Baptist Church}
^{Dawson County, GA}

When you head out to someplace with no particular route in mind – just a bit of a plan to head up through the mountains and see if there is any chance you can catch some color with the leaves turning in the fall – you never know what you are going to find. We are always on the lookout for something new, and we usually do find something – something good.

That’s generally how we find old churches – just wandering around looking. And that’s how we found High Shoals Baptist Church a good ways up the mountain above Amicalola Falls in Dawson County, Georgia. We’d taken a detour off the main road to check out the State Park at the falls since I absolutely love waterfalls and have taken many a detour to see them. I’ve had many adventures looking for waterfalls and maybe just a few “un-adventures” too.

We’d stopped at the main part of the park, looked around, and then headed on up to check out the overlook of the falls. Very nice.

Then, we just headed on up the road a piece. We lost pavement after a bit and were thinking about maybe turning back down the mountain and back towards civilization.

That’s when we saw the sign for the church. So, that was it…decision made. Now we absolutely had to keep going up the hill to find that church.

Silly me, thinking it would be just up the road from the sign. Never is. Turned out to be another mile and a half of bad pot-holed, washboard rough, used-to-be-graveled but ain’t no more, north Georgia dirt road.

We finally found the church in the middle of nowhere or, maybe from God’s perspective, in the place exactly where it is supposed to be. At first glance, it didn’t appear to be very old at all…. but it turns out that the building was new; the “church” is much older.

The church or congregation was established there in June 1879 by Samuel Roper and two deacons, Jonathon F.M. West and Samuel Harben.¹

This area of Appalachia had been settled from about 1823 although I am sure the Cherokee were in the area long before that. Things went well at High Shoals and the settlers thrived until the 1930’s when the Government decided to create Chattahoochee National Forest. With the Government buying up (and maybe just taking) the land thereabouts, the congregation dwindled down… to few parishioners were left to support the church. The final service was held at High Shoals Baptist in 1934.¹

Things went quiet at the old church for many years… no gospel singing, no scripture reading, no eloquent sermons, no altar calls… until the 1970’s when descendants of the original congregation began having “homecoming” services. The Reverend Billy Welch and Flem Vaughters got things going again and a new church building was erected in 1975. (The original building was a log cabin with dirt floors. There are no remains of this building today although the old cemetery remains from the early years.)¹

^{Spring fed water fountain on the grounds. Ladies room to the right of the church. I didn’t check it out.}
^{The men’s room was over on the left side.}

The current church building has no electricity or running water. Propane gas lanterns are used for evening services and heaters in the winter. Water from a nearby spring is pumped in for the outhouses.²

The people came back. As of 2015, it was reported that there are about sixty members with services held on the 3^rd and the 5^th Sundays each month.²

Things are not so quiet at the church nowadays. The local paper, Dawson Community News, reported on a bit of an unusual occurrence at a revival service held in 2015.² Seems a great big ole rattlesnake was there to greet the worshippers when they arrived:

“A [big] rattlesnake with 14 rattlers was right beside the front door,” said Harold Evans. “It about scared our visiting pastor to death. But he did give us all a fine sermon that night afterwards.”²

I can only imagine that particular sermon.

Pastor Evans further reported:

“We’ve seen bears, copperheads, rattlers. We’re not that concerned about them up there. We know they’re there.”²

In the country, I suppose you have to be prepared for just about everything.

We wandered around the church and into the cemetery. (We didn’t see any snakes, thankfully!) The Georgia Genealogy Cemetery site reports there are approximately 32 unmarked graves and 11 marked graves.³

Much to our delight, the church doors were unlocked, and we were able to look around inside. There were hymnals in the pews, cushions on the seats, and plenty of those “hand-powered cardboard fans” I remember so well from my childhood days in church.

^{Cushions on the pews, tissues for your tears, and hand-held air conditioners. Who can ask for more?}
^{Don’t ya just love how each cushion is different as if each person just made his or her own special pillow and left it in their seat in the pew?}

On the upright piano in the corner the hymnal was opened to page number 479, “Amazing Grace”⁴

and nearby an old Bible was opened to the 23^rd Psalm…..

all waiting and ready for the pastor to step right in and begin the next sermon.

A Psalm of David.

1The LORD is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

2He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

3He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

for the sake of His name.

4Even though I walk through

the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6Surely goodness and mercy will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell

in the house of the LORD

forever.

It was all very beautiful, and we stopped together for a moment to pray before we continued on our way…a prayer of thankfulness and a hope that this church would continue to serve in God’s love and grace for many years to come.

Sources for Information:

Primitive homeplace: High Shoals Baptist carries on long traditions – Gainesville Times; September 24, 2011
Revival at mountain church has uninvited guest – Forsyth News, Dawson Community News; Michele Hester; August 21, 2015; Updated August 22, 2015
High Shoals Church Cemetery, Dawson County Georgia – Georgia Genealogy
Amazing Grace > Lyrics | John Newton (timelesstruths.org)

Charles Wesley preached here on March 14, 1736. It was the first service to be held at the new mission on St. Simon’s Island. There was no actual church building so Reverend Wesley preached right there under the live oak trees with limbs stretching out over an acre and with trunks so large you cannot reach your arms around them – trees that were as old as, well…. the trees.

I like to think that first sermon was in the cool of the evening after a long hot day… new settlers in from a long day’s work clearing fields, soldiers from nearby Fort Frederica, watermen brought in with the tide hauling bushels of crabs or shrimp – everyone from the small colony…. men, women, and children gathering to sing a few hymns and hear the words of the Lord. George Whitfield, who was a deacon at the Savannah church at the time remembered:

“In the evening we had publick Prayers, and expounding of the second Lesson under a large tree, and many more present than could be expected.” ^{1 (Aug 8, 1737)}

The oak no longer stands. It has long since succumbed to storms and damage and time. There is a Georgia Historical Marker at the site that commemorates the “Wesley Oak” that stands very close to another ancient oak tree, so everyone just seems to think that is the actual oak where Wesley preached. Yep, me too. Even took a photo with Jerry hugging the tree. Actually taking the time to read the marker helps. So, I have a great photo of an old oak tree that is NOT the Wesley Oak…. still a beautiful oak tree that is very picture worthy in its own right. The original oak is gone but a cross was made from the wood and now hangs inside the church to further commemorate the man and the sermon that evening on St. Simon’s Island.

Charles was the brother of the Reverend John Wesley, the rector at the Christ Chapel in Savannah. Both brothers were sent out from the Church of England. Brother Charles had traveled to St. Simon’s Island in the Georgia colony as a chaplain for James Oglethorpe, credited as the founder of the state. Oglethorpe had established Fort Frederica on the island on February 15, 1736 and brought in Scottish soldiers to help secure the frontier. I do not suppose anyone thinks of the low country and barrier islands along the Georgia coast as “the frontier” these days and I daresay not too many people worry about protection when they visit, but in 1736, it was pretty much the edge of nowhere, full of all sorts of danger…. and possible Spanish colonists that couldn’t be allowed.

Charles Wesley established a mission on the island and preached that first sermon on March 14, 1736. In the beginning, he held services in a small tabby (cement & broken up seashells) building within the walls of Fort Frederica. He served the congregation on the island at the small mission until July 1736. The United Society Partners in the Gospel provided clergy for the mission/church during the 1700’s. After America’s Revolutionary War, the local churches broke away from the Church of England (understandably) becoming Episcopal churches in the US.

The first permanent church on the property was built in 1820. This church stood until the American Civil War when it was mostly destroyed. Christ Episcopal Church at St. Simon’s was incorporated by state legislature in 1808 and given one hundred and eight acres on the island near Fort Frederica. Reverend William Best was the first rector of the newly incorporated Christ Episcopal Church which joined other churches to form the Episcopal Diocese in 1823. On a sidenote, church history from Wikipedia ⁵indicates that in 1840, bees built a hive in the church steeple. The congregants collected and sold honey to raise money for building repairs. Two thoughts come quickly to mind; 1) this just has to be an early predecessor to more church bake sales than you can shake a stick at, and 2) I wonder if the bees “hummed” along with the singing during church services.

Christ Church continued to be served by lay ministers who visited the area as circuit riders at intervals in the 1800’s. It wasn’t clear where the congregation met once the church building was destroyed although under the trees seems to have worked out okay. In 1879, Anson Greene Phelps Dodge, Jr. (Deacon and then Rector) reorganized the parish and, in 1884, had the church rebuilt in memory of his wife who was buried on the grounds.

Reverend Dodge also established another church, St. Ignatius, nearby on Demere Road as an outreach to slaves that had been freed after the war. Anna Alexander, a deaconess who served at St. Ignatius, is noteworthy as the first black deaconess in the Episcopal Church. In 1998, she was named as a saint in the church by the Episcopal Diocese. In the 1980’s, St. Ignatius was closed and merged with Christ Episcopal Church. Christ Episcopal Church continues to be an active congregation with services still being held throughout the year. Visitors are made welcome. (According to the church website, about 20,000 people visit the church each year.)

“Our grounds and our faith are historic, built upon the foundations laid by our ancestors on this island and the host of saints who have come before us.” ⁴

We were blessed in that the church was open on the day we visited, and we were able to go inside and enjoy the beauty of the church. The interior of the building, which is quite simple and beautiful, was built with local heart pine which has never been stained or painted.

We also spent quite a bit of time in the cemetery on the grounds. Many of the tombstones there are as old as the trees that surround them. The oldest tombstone is 1803 although it is thought that there are older graves there. The cemetery includes the graves of the Rectors of the church and their families, early settlers, Officers of the British Army who served nearby, and soldiers from every war fought by the US.³

The day we visited was a quiet one with only one other couple strolling through the grounds reading the inscriptions on the gravestones, a Pastor and his wife visiting from Tennessee.

Before we left, we asked the pastor to say a prayer with us. He obliged praying for safety in our travels and asked God to bless the church and bring souls to salvation there in the future. We prayed under the beautiful live oak trees where some 300 years ago, the Reverend Charles Wesley had preached and, no doubt, had prayed the same prayer for mercy and salvation. Amen

Notes & Sources with links:

Georgia Historical Marker 063-33A, 1968, Christ Episcopal Church (I was unable to locate the link for the specific marker online so included the link for the main site.)
Georgia Historical Marker 063-34A, Wesley Oak (Unable to locate the link for the specific marker.)
Georgia Historical Marker 063-35, Christ Church Cemetery
Christ Episcopal Church Website/About Us /(ccfssi.org)
Wikipedia, Christ Church (St. Simons, Georgia)

If you’d like to visit Christ Episcopal Church:

There are two locations on St. Simons Island. The main Church and offices are located at 6329 Frederica Rd., St. Simons Island, GA 31522. St. Ignatius Chapel is located at 2609 Demere Rd., St. Simons Island, GA 31522. ⁴

Birding Boomers

Out on another road trip looking for birds and whatever comes up next.

A Story of Revival at High Shoals

Under the Oaks – Christ Episcopal Church