Black Rock AME Church was established in 1868 by freedmen, most of whom had been members of the white Independence Methodist Church in nearby Tignall. The old church building was moved in 1870 to land given to the congregation by member John Stovall Poole, Sr. (1820-1893). The plain style church remained unchanged until the steeple and vestibule were added to the front circa 1900. The style is sometimes called “wedding cake” for its stacked construction and is quite rare in Georgia.
One of the large rocks that inspired the church’s name was engraved to commemorate their anniversary in 1940. Rev. J. Clinton chose Matthew 21:42 to represent the strength and faith of the congregation: The stone which the builders rejected became the cornerstone of the building.
Rocks of this type are common in Georgia’s “Granite Belt” and often give names to places and geographical features throughout the region.
Slabs of local stone are commonly used for headstones in most of the older cemeteries in this part of the state. I’ll update this one if I can decipher the name.
Rev. C. M. Pinkleton (28 November 1856-13 March 1905)
Monuments ranging from simple to formal are found throughout the historic cemetery. Many of those buried here were formerly enslaved.
Emily Hawes (1834-16 October 1899)
Emily was the wife of Fate Hawes. The typical stenciled headstone is a common vernacular form.
Macedonia Baptist Church is an old African-American congregation. The structure is typical of others of this type built in the early 20th century and retains its original steeple.
The amazing history of Smyrna begins in 1785, when Reverends John Newton and John Simpson of the South Carolina Presbytery began holding services in nearby homes at the request of Sir John Williston Talbot (1735-1798), who had come to Georgia to attend to the 50,000 acres granted him by King George III. The first church, built on this site in 1793, was a log structure and the Reverend John Springer, the first Presbyterian minister ordained in Georgia, was the first pastor and he remained here until 1801. Membership had declined to such a small number by 1820 that the Presbyterians transferred the building to the Methodists and moved to the Washington Presbyterian Church. Beginning in the 1840s, the Methodists and Presbyterians held joint camp meetings on the grounds, which went on for many years. The old log church served Smyrna Methodist until a frame structure replaced it in 1860. The present structure dates to 1911.
Historic Smyrna Cemetery
The land for this burying ground, and by extension the churchyard, were given by Sir John Talbot in 1788, and it is one of the most historic in the region. I’m sharing some of the highlights here, focusing on the early gravestones.
Talbot Enclosure
This enclosure of Georgia granite is the burial place of several members of the Talbot family and other early members of the congregation. Because it’s the burial place of Governor Matthew Talbot, I’m identifying it as the Talbot Enclosure, but many families, including Jones, Charlton, Martin, and Colley, are also present.
Matthew Talbot, the son of Sir John Talbot and the namesake of Talbotton and Talbot County, served as the 30th governor of Georgia, albeit for only two weeks [24 October 1819-5 November 1819]. After moving to Georgia from Virginia, he served as a clerk of the Superior Court in Elbert County [1790-1791] and represented Wilkes County in the Georgia General Assembly. He later moved to Oglethorpe County and represented them in the state Constitutional Conventions of 1795 and 1798. He served in the Georgia Senate in 1799, 1801-1803, and from 1808 until 1822. While serving a President of the Senate, he became the interim Governor of Georgia upon the death of Governor William Rabun in 1819. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1823, losing after a battle in the legislature that lasted three days before a selection could be made. This resulted in the legislature changing the system of electing governors by election by popular vote. In 1827 he once again was a gubernatorial candidate, but passed away before the election.
James C. Talbot (5 October 1799-11 July 1840)
James Creswell Talbot, who, according to his headstone, stood well as a Preacher, served the Smyrna congregation before his death.
Mary L. Talbot (5 July 1838-17 February 1849)
Mary was the daughter of Reverend James C. Talbot and Sarah A. Talbot.
Thomas Henry Jones (July ? 1816-10 March 1818)
Thomas Henry Jones was the son of Col. William Jones, a veteran of the War of 1812. No birth or death dates for Col. Jones have been located as of this writing.
Dr. Henry Augustus Jones (9 August 1821-15 December 1854)
I like the inscription on this early physician’s headstone: The law of truth was in his mouth and iniquity was not found in his lips. He walked with men in peace and equity.
Frances Charlton (7 March 1782-11 September 1857)
The headstone of Frances Charlton is a nice early Victorian example featuring weeping willow trees. It is signed by its maker, Glendinning of Augusta. It notes of Charlton: Lived a consistent member of the Methodist Church nearly half a century.
Owens Colley (9 April 1851-13 September 1851)
Owens Colley was the infant son of John Owens & Sarah E. Colley.
Pvt. Gannaway Martin (18 September 1740-26 August 1819)
Gannaway Martin served in General Elijah Clarke’s Regiment of Georgia Troops during the Revolutionary War.
This is another view of the Talbot Enclosure from the back side.
This is the corner of the enclosure at a point where it joins another smaller enclosure.
Behind the Talbot Enclosure is an equally old and historic section of the cemetery. I’m calling it the Barnett Family Plot, for the number of Barnetts interred here.
William W. Barnett (16 November 1747-25 October 1834)
William W. Barnett was a son of John Barnett, Jr., an Irish immigrant who was one of the earliest settlers of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. His sister, Mary, is believed to have been the first white child born in Mecklenburg County. Along with his father and his brother, William served in the Revolutionary War in the Snow Campaign and the Battle of Hanging Rock.
Jean Jack Barnett (1750-11 September 1811)
Jean Jack, a native of Pennsylvania, was the wife of William M. Barnett of Wilkes County.
Charity Barnett (1789 ?-26 September 1808)
Charity was the daughter of William W. & Jean Barnett. Her headstone is one of the earliest in the cemetery.
William J. Barnett (July 1813-22 September 1828)Elizabeth Margaret Joyner Barnett (1799 ? -23 January 1822)
Elizabeth was the first wife of Samuel Jack Barnett (21 January 1775-14 January 1843). His second wife, Elizabeth Wingfield Willis Bennett (30 March 1791-11 June 1856), is buried nearby.
The three memorials that follow were just aesthetically interesting to me.
G. W. Florence (Birthdate unknown-1874)
The simple mausoleum of G. W. Florence features a ventilation pipe on its roof. This is likely due to the belief held by some Victorians that people were often buried alive and this would provide air to the “not-yet-departed”. Florence himself has proven a mystery, as I can’t locate anything about his life. Even his birthdate is missing from this memorial.
Augustus Stovall Tatom (12 January 1877-6 October 1913)
Augustus Stovall Tatom was the son of Wiley G. Tatom (1847-1916) & Georgia M. Tatom (1847-1930). The broken Corinthian column on the headstone is symbolic of a life cut short in the parlance of Victorian funerary art.
Elizabeth Cooper Meriwether (21 August 1840-24 Mary 1921)
Cornelia Elizabeth Cooper Meriwether was the wife of Thomas Molloy Meriwether (1821-1899). The ferns and tropical plants featured on her headstone may have a Victorian meaning, but I think they’re more representative of the Arts & Crafts aesthetic that was popular at the time.
Ebenezer Baptist Church, one of the oldest congregations in Wilkes County, was established in 1787. In papers held by the University of Georgia, photographer Hubert Bond gave 1790 as the construction date of the church but a more recent source suggests 1904. It is possible that parts of the earlier structure were incorporated into this one, and, considering its Greek Revival style, it may have antebellum origins.
The church is the last remaining public landmark of the historic community of Aonia, which had a post office from 1843-1918.
Pompey’s Chapel Baptist Church is an historic African-American congregation in southern Wilkes County, founded by freedmen in 1870. The original church, believed to have been built circa 1879, has been expanded, though it retains much of its traditional character. A well-maintained cemetery is located adjacent to the churchyard and a one-room structure is located behind the church. I believe it may have been a schoolhouse, as was a common practice among Black churches in this era, but I cannot confirm that at this time.
Cherry Grove Baptist Church, like multitudes of historic African-American congregations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was as committed to the education of its children as it was to catering to the spiritual needs of its community. They built this little one-room schoolhouse circa 1910 for that purpose. In the Jim Crow era, there was little to no emphasis placed on the literacy of Black children by the state, so that responsibility was borne by churches. Philanthropic organizations such as the the Rosenwald Fund began building schools for these under-served communities in 1912, but Cherry Grove predates that time and is therefore an important link to a part of our history that is often overlooked.
Recent historical resource surveys have identified 15 of these church-supported schoolhouses in Georgia, and most can be considered highly endangered resources. They may have once numbered in the hundreds, so their loss is significant, not only to the Black community but to the historical record as well.
The Cherry Grove School, with one teacher overseeing grades 1-7, closed in 1956. This was an effect of widespread consolidation which saw the state building better Black schools, known as Equalization Schools, in an effort to delay the desegregation mandated by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The school deteriorated with the passage of time, and was as endangered as all the other Black schoolhouses in Georgia. Thanks to the work of Barrett Hanson and the Friends of Cherry Grove Schoolhouse, this special place has been given a new lease on life and will hopefully serve a new educational purpose to coming generations. Their efforts saw the school placed on the National Register of Historic Places and were recognized earlier this year with the prestigious Marguerite Williams Award, given by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation for the project that made the greatest impact on historic preservation in Georgia.
Cherry Grove Baptist Church was established by members of Springfield Baptist Church in Washington who sought a more convenient place of worship near their rural community. That community, which came to be known as Cohentown, was formally established a few years later by Peter Arnett (1842-1891), a formerly enslaved man who purchased over 60 acres from an ex-Confederate soldier and opened the area to Black ownership.
As with most rural churches of the era, Cherry Grove first held services in a brush arbor, then built a log structure, before constructing a more formal home. That structure served from the late 1800s until it was lost in a storm in the early 1900s. The present structure, seen here, was built in the first decade of the 20th century and the brick was added much later.
Some of the ministers of the church are listed on a cornerstone, though the list is incomplete. They include: W. M. Gladmon; C. L. Lockhart; E. D. Harris; Samuel Sims; Eddie Thomas; and Ervin Norman, Sr.
New Ford Baptist Church began as a white congregation circa 1795, and typical of the times, had African-American members until the Civil War. It should be pointed out that the these men and women were almost certainly enslaved and therefore had no input as to their religious choice but at least in the case of this congregation, they embraced their church. The structure seen here was built in 1832 and purchased by Black members, who retained the New Ford name, in 1879. The two front steeples were added much later, likely the late 19th century.
It is the most historic African-American congregation in Wilkes County and the landmark structure and well-manicured churchyard and cemetery are exceptional. It is a truly inspiring place.
Danburg Baptist Church has its origins in one of the oldest congregations in the state. Established as Newford Baptist Church, a few miles from this location on the banks of Newford Creek, the church later changed its name to New Ford. In its early history, Black members attended, holding separate services. This was a common practice before the Civil War and by the late 1850s, Black members accounted for nearly 75% of the congregation.
In the late 1870s, white members of New Ford built this church near the Danburg crossroads and renamed their congregation Danburg Baptist. Black members purchased the New Ford church and retained the name of the original congregation.
Identifying this very isolated rural church has generated more questions than answers. Though it has generally been referred to as Jones Chapel, due to the fact that the road on which it is located bears that name, Richard Millman of Evans, working with our friends at Historic Rural Churches of Georgia, has confirmed that it was St. Johns Church.
In an article in the Lincoln Journal, Millman wrote: I spoke with an 87-year-old local man who began attending St. John’s church in the 1940s. He was one of the last two members and they closed the church. He also attended the Jones Chapel school that sat adjacent to the church. The school building is no longer standing. The man did not know of a Jones Chapel in the area. There are graves in the overgrowncemetery, but no history can be found on the folks buried there. The fact that the gentleman Millman spoke with knew nothing of the location of Jones Chapel, but that the African-American school associated with St. Johns Church was named Jones Chapel School, is curious. However, knowing that rural neighborhoods often take on the name of local landmarks, it may indicate that the community around this rural road was loosely known as Jones Chapel. Nothing about the location or history of Jones Chapel has been found, thus far.
Dating the structure is also difficult. Various resources date it to 1889, 1909, and 1920. I’m more inclined to go with the circa 1909 date, as I’ve seen many African-American churches built circa 1900-1920 with similar steeples. The vernacular three-bay-deep form was typical for both white and black congregations well into the early 20th century.
Update: The 1909 construction date has been confirmed locally.
All the guesses researchers have made regarding this church are logical, and though the full story may never emerge, it’s safe to say the church is not going to be around too much longer in its present state.
