Saint Joseph in the Bay Branch community is a rare rural Catholic congregation which for many years was the only such church between Savannah and Augusta. In their sesquicentennial history, One Faith…One Family, the Savannah Diocese notes: Bishop Benjamin J. Keiley…dedicated Saint Joseph Catholic Church and Cemetery on May 14, 1911. For about 40 years before the Bay Branch church was built, Catholic Mass was celebrated by priests from Savannah in the homes of Slavic and German Catholic families in rural Screven County…

The simple architecture of the church is typical of rural congregations in Georgia throughout the late-19th and early-20th centuries. It is beautifully maintained.