This congregation dates to the 1830 and the present church building, dedicated in 1952, is quite formal in contrast to many of the Primitive Baptist meeting houses. I’m most accustomed to their truly primitive architecture in South Georgia, and while I’ve seen other formal examples, this Colonial Revival version is one of the nicest. Like many Primitive Baptist churches, the architecture is asymmetrical.
Jan Winter writes: From the history brochure I have, it states that Enon Primitive Baptist Church was constituted June 19, 1830 with the original name being Bethlehem. The name was changed to Enon in July 1831. The original Meeting House was at Jones Mill. On November 22, 1834 the church appointed a building committee to build a new meeting house there. My Great Grandfather, Baker Mann, was on the building committee. After over fifty years at Jones Mill, in 1882 the building was sold, property purchased in Gay, and a new meeting house was built on the present site. My Great Great Grandfather, Maltire Thrash was on this building committee. No photos exist; however it was described as a barnlike structure with only wooden shutters to keep out rain and wind. The congregation sat on long wooden benches which had only one rail for a back rest. This building underwent very little change until it was replaced in 1951 by the new meeting house in the photograph above. From everything I’ve read in the brochure, it appears to me that Enon was an Old Line Primitive Baptist Church. There is much more in the brochure, but I will end here. One footnote – Elder Samuel H. Whatley, mentioned in another post by Matt Bell, was pastor at Enon from 1919 – 1923.
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 
From the history brochure I have, it states that Enon Primitive Baptist Church was constituted June 19, 1830 with the original name being Bethlehem. The name was changed to Enon in July 1831. The original Meeting House was at Jones Mill. On November 22, 1834 the church appointed a building committee to build a new meeting house there. My Great Grandfather, Baker Mann, was on the building committee. After over fifty years at Jones Mill, in 1882 the building was sold, property purchased in Gay, and a new meeting house was built on the present site. My Great Great Grandfather, Maltire Thrash was on this building committee. No photos exist; however it was described as a barnlike structure with only wooden shutters to keep out rain and wind. The congregation sat on long wooden benches which had only one rail for a back rest. This building underwent very little change until it was replaced in 1951 by the new meeting house in the photograph above. From everything I’ve read in the brochure, it appears to me that Enon was an Old Line Primitive Baptist Church. There is much more in the brochure, but I will end here. One footnote – Elder Samuel H. Whatley, mentioned in another post by Matt Bell, was pastor at Enon from 1919 – 1923.
Thank you. I will share this information on the post.
Elder Whatley served the Statesboro Primitive Baptist Church in 1919.
Looking at The Banner Herald of the 2022 directory of Progressive Primitive Baptist Churches, I do not find Enon church listed. Perhaps they did not submit the information or the church is not Progressive but rather Old Line. Perhaps Janet Winter can post the correct information.
Interesting. I can’t find much information about the church online, but this elder who served Enon has a biography from the Banner-Herald: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87170652/samuel-houston-whatley
I notice that he also served Macedonia at Sasser, a progressive church that was still active as of a few years ago.
This is the church my Daddy attended when growing up in Gay. I attended church services in this church every July growing up as part of our family reunion weekend. I have a history brochure about the church that states it was constituted June 19, 1830. I attended the sesquicentennial celebration of the church in 1980.
I’ve been here and looked in the windows. I believe I saw indications that it was a Progressive PB church, which tend to have more sophisticated architecture.