Tag Archives: Churches of Macon County GA

St. Paul Primitive Baptist Church, 1930, Montezuma

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St. Paul Primitive Baptist Church was built in 1930 and is the oldest surviving church structure in the historically African-American Montezuma neighborhood known as Duncan’s Bottom. It is centered around Whiteline Street. The church is located adjacent to Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The Black Primitive Baptists, while not as well known as the Missionary Baptist or the African Methodist Episcopal churches, had similar origins. Most congregations evolved out of white congregations to which members were exposed in the days of slavery.

St. Paul is critically endangered at this time, as the roof has collapsed through the middle of the sanctuary. I’m not sure if the congregation is still active.

Travelers Rest Methodist Church, 1890s, Macon County

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Travelers Rest was an early community near the banks of the Flint River, settled circa 1830 as pioneers pushed westward in the Georgia interior. On land given by pioneer David Jones in 1836, the Methodists established a church and cemetery here, which they shared with Travelers Rest Baptist until that congregation built a new home, just steps away, in 1867. For many years they were referred to as twin churches.

Travelers Rest was incorporated as Bristol in 1838 but by the 1860s was supplanted in importance by the growing communities of Oglethorpe and Montezuma, a few miles distant. Since most members of Travelers Rest Methodist moved their letters to new congregations in those communities, the church was deeded to the Travelers Rest C. M. E. Church in 1884. The present structure was built circa 1890 by the African-Americans and hosted its last service in 1994. Graves of black and white members are scattered around the building, mostly obscured by vegetation today and in desperate need of attention.

Rocky Mount C. M. E. Church, Garden Valley

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Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Oglethorpe

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This was originally a Baptist church and was moved from Oglethorpe to its present location.

Oglethorpe Methodist Church, 1892

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James Duke, Jr., notes that the church was organized in 1852. A memorial to the Reverend James Bradford Smith, placed in the churchyard in 1853, indicates that the congregation worshiped on this same property from its formation.

Mt. Zion-St. Luke Lutheran Church, 1911, Oglethorpe

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This historic congregation is older than Macon County. From 1827 until the Civil War, Mt. Zion Church built at least three churches, with the first being built about nine miles west of present-day Oglethorpe in the Saint John’s community (known locally today as Cut-Off). By the early 20th century, there were more Lutherans in Oglethorpe than in the rural section of the county and St. Luke was organized to better serve them. Martin Luther (Luke) Shealy gave the land on which the present church was built and out of respect, the members chose St. Luke as the new name of their congregation. The two congregations merged in 1953.

First Baptist Church, 1899, Montezuma

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Montezuma Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

First Baptist Church, 1920, Marshallville

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West Main Residential District, National Register of Historic Places

Montezuma United Methodist Church, 1917, Montezuma

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The first service held by the Methodists after the incorporation of Montezuma in 1854 was held under a brush arbor near the Felton Cemetery.  Soon a one-room wood building was constructed and used for both a school and a church.  The Montezuma M. E. Church was formally organized on 17 February 1867. A new wooden church was built on Dooly Street in 1887. In 1916, Reverend Guyton Fisher, oversaw the construction of the present church. The first service in this new sanctuary was held on 25 March 1917, with Rev. Robert Kerr as pastor. T. Firth Lockwood, Jr., of Columbus, was the architect. It’s known as Montezuma United Methodist Church today.

Montezuma Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Ideal United Methodist Church, 1914, Macon County

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According to the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church: The Ideal UMC was formed in the early past of this century. With the decline of two other churches in the area, the Lebanon Methodist Episcopal Church and the Turner’s Chapel Church, there was a need for a church for the people of Ideal. Mr. George P. Brooks and Mrs. W. T. Harden directed the organization of the church on the second Sunday in May, 1908. The church began having services in the auditorium of the local school house, the Ideal High School…on November 5, 1913, the congregation hired a contractor from Oglethorpe, J. C. Stephens, to build the church…The new building was completed by May, 1914…