Placed in 2000, adjacent to the Culloden City Cemetery, this memorial reads: We know not who they are, but they are loved ones of God and man and will never be forgotten. The fact that enslaved people were so disregarded as human beings is why so many of their identities are lost. These sorts of memorials are a first step at reclaiming this history, and, while a noble gesture, are a sad commentary on the past.
Culloden Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Though this headstone is almost unreadable, a brick wall erected beside it notes that it is the burial place, in 1823, of William Culloden, founder of the village that bears his name. Culloden was a Scottish Highlander who settled the area around 1780 and the setlement was named Cullodenville in his honor until it was incoporated in 1887 at which time the name was shortened to Culloden.
Culloden Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This historic cemetery has quite a few antebellum headstones and is well-maintained.
Some Historic Headstones of Culloden City Cemetery
He was the son of L. T. & Matilda Doyal. The Doyals were obviously Whigs and supporters of William Henry Harrison, who was running for President around the time of this child’s birth.
She died 12th October 1838 With Strong faith in Glorious Immortality. Born Elizabeth [Eliza] Middleton. Rev. Speer’s biography in Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (Atlanta, 1906), notes: [he] was a man of broad culture, great eloquence and extensive influence. He was secretary of state or comptroller-general of South Carolina in 1826…Alexander Speer resisted the nullification theories of the Calhoun party. He was put forward as the protagonist of the Union party and the opponent in public discussions of such men as McDuffie…About the year 1833 he removed to Georgia and settled at Culloden, a village noted for the multitude of distinguished men it has sent forth. In the meantime while desperately ill, he had declared that if his life was spared he would devote it to the Christian ministry. He kept his vow and in this work he became even more famous than he had been as a lawyer and politician. He was one of the founders of Wesleyan female college at Macon, and it is believed preached the first commencement sermon at Emory college. The last commencement address made there by the late Associate Justice L. Q. C. Lamar was largely composed of passages quoted from memory from that sermon, from another by Bishop Soule and a commencement oration by George F., afterwards Bishop Pierce. Alexander Speer, after filling many of the principal appointments in the Methodist churches in Georgia and South Carolina, died at Lagrange, Ga., in 1856… The Speers’s son, Alexander M. Speer (1820-1897), served as a Georgia Supreme Court Justice from 1880-1882.
Reverend Flournoy, D. D., was born in Warren County, Georgia. His wife was Sarah A. Flournoy (1803-1847), a native of Beaufort County, South Carolina.
The headstones note that Mr. Sneed was a Virginia native and his consort a Rhode Island native. The tablet in front of the memorials reads: Remains of John and Mary Sneed are buried in Sneed Family Cemetery located on Old Sneed Farm which is 2/10 mile from the present Culloden post office southeast of town on top of hill 300 yards east of old Highway 341. Only the monuments were moved from the graves. -Winter 1975.
Culloden Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Though the present building dates to 1893 and is said to be the oldest brick Methodist church standing in Georgia, the congregation is much older, having been established in 1809. Culloden was a detour on the way home after a long trip to Northwest Georgia last weekend, but what a pleasant detour it turned out to be. We met Sarah Ray, who upon seeing us photographing the building, invited us in to see the interior. She’s among the oldest members of the church, though you’d never know it by her infectious spirit and the pride she has in this small congregation. She and here late husband, Eric Lloyd Ray, were active members for many years.
Sarah noted that she had watched the congregation dwindle over the past few decades to the point that only 20 or 30 attend services regularly today, but she remains faithful that the church will continue to be an anchor for the small town. She echoed a sentiment I’ve heard from a dear friend of mine who’s a retired Methodist bishop that the church as a “business” continues to downsize and weed out the smallest congregations as their upkeep has become impractical. We both agreed that that wasn’t the way it should be.
But if every church has someone like Sarah Ray, there will always be hope.
Culloden Historic District, National Register of Historic Places