Mount Carmel Primitive Baptist Church, which no longer exists, was established in the 1840s near present-day McIntyre. It was a large community in its early days. The church, and the old Mount Carmel School, are long gone, but the historic cemetery is an important link to the early history of Wilkinson County.

The Criswell family were pioneer settlers of the area and the grave house of James P. Criswell (1842-1927), his first wife Georgian Shinholster Criswell (1847-1873), and an infant son (1872-1872), is a notable memorial at Mount Carmel. James and Georgian had another son, born in 1870. James P. Criswell enlisted as a private in Co. A, 49th Georgia Infantry, on 4 March 1862. He was soon discharged and on 15 August 1862 furnished James J. Howell as a substitute. Records indicate he re-enlisted in Co. D, 63rd Georgia Infantry on 29 January 1864. After Georgian’s death, Criswell married Celia Jane Billings (1846-1926), with whom he had seven more children.