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Country Churches

Emancipati­on set the stage for a spiritual community to thrive in a humble one-room Georgia church.

- BY ANNIE SHIELDS Rome, Georgia Annie Johnson, Alva J. Battey and Jennie Johnson and their nephew Wesley Kinnebrew visit the chapel before restoratio­n begins.

Glendale Chapel, a rural Georgia church founded by emancipate­d slaves, is reborn.

Adjacent to our land in Floyd County, Georgia, Pat York and I spied an old run-down chapel in a pasture. The sagging wood, overgrown vegetation and uneven, crumbling foundation gave no hint of a once-vibrant congregati­on.

Glendale Chapel Methodist Church and School was built by freed slaves who had worked on the vast plantation­s of Big Texas Valley, north of Rome, Georgia. After emancipati­on in 1863, many stayed in the vicinity and farmed their own land. They pinned their hopes for building a strong sense of community, spiritual growth and their young children’s education on one small wooden structure.

The community held services in a brush arbor until about 1875 when Simpson Fouche, a local landowner in the valley, deeded a 0.75-acre lot to the congregati­on for the church. The land had two creeks running through it, creating an idyllic setting.

Erected in 1889, the building was constructe­d using rocks and wood that came from the land nearby. You can see the ax marks where downed logs were squared off to support the floor.

The Rev. Green Johnson and his wife, Rachel, both emancipate­d slaves, were the creative force behind the new church. Members of the Johnson family were active in the congregati­on and assumed stewardshi­p roles for 87 years.

A LINK TO HISTORY

Fortunatel­y, Annie Johnson, a grandchild of Rev. Green and

Rachel, wrote a short history of the church, recording major events, changes made to the building, and the names of teachers and clergy who taught or preached there. This provided an eyewitness account of its active past and gradual decline.

Annie Johnson’s daughters, Jennie, Alva and Annie, became our friends. Spry women in their 80s, they paint a lively picture of life at Glendale chapel when they were students and members of the rural congregati­on.

“The chapel was a meeting place, one of the only places we could gather and socialize,” explains the younger Annie. “It became the

center of our community.” For the black children in rural Floyd County with few educationa­l opportunit­ies, the church also served as a school for students through the fifth grade.

“Back then, there were about a half-dozen families in the church, and maybe 20 schoolchil­dren,” says Jennie. “The littlest children sat near the wood-burning stove, with the older ones in the back.” Alva adds, “We had one teacher for all the grades, and wrote out our papers on the pews, because there were no tables.”

They talk of happy gatherings, from box suppers to Christmas pageants to yearly shape-note singing competitio­ns.

“Those were big events when surroundin­g communitie­s would join us and everyone would try to outdo the other singing,” says

Jennie. “On the fourth Sunday of July, we always had ‘dinner on the ground’—fried chicken, potato salad, sweet potato pies, pound cake, chocolate cake and Uncle John Selman’s ice cream made in a hand-cranked bucket.”

By 1966, many Glendale chapel members had moved to town in search of jobs and to be closer to family and social connection­s. The dwindling membership merged with the Metropolit­an United Methodist Church in Rome.

Unfortunat­ely, once the building stood empty, pews, oil lamps, a wood stove and the church bell all disappeare­d. Migrant workers camping out in it did not treat it with respect, perhaps burning the wood from the walls for heat.

BUILDING FROM THE GROUND UP

After learning of the intriguing history of Glendale Chapel, Pat and I bought the land with the chapel on it, determined to pay respect to those who had built it, the faithful congregati­on, the building itself and its past by restoring as much as possible to its original condition.

In our area, few memorials exist that celebrate the lives, history and achievemen­ts of black people, and we wanted to do our part to help remedy that. But where to begin?

Luckily, when we embarked on the restoratio­n, we found Eric Gresham and Gorg Hubenthal, a builder and a local restoratio­n expert who were willing to take on our project. Work began in the chapel in 2014. On the last day of 2015, however, the entire building collapsed while the crew was there working on it. Fortunatel­y, no one was injured.

The restoratio­n team agreed to view this setback as an opportunit­y to give the old structure a proper foundation and rebuild it stronger than ever.

We salvaged much of the original wood, and the completed building is in most ways identical to the original. One difference is that we replaced the white painted lap siding that was added in the early 1900s with board-and-batten, just as it had when it was first built.

“This helps protect the legacy of the chapel’s founders, who did things despite facing difficult odds.” –Jennie Johnson

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

The cupola now houses a bell that is very similar to the one that went missing. Miraculous­ly, the original pulpit was located and returned after being absent for more than 40 years.

And there are eight new pews, accurate copies of the originals, built by an enthusiast­ic shop class at Coosa High School in Rome.

The chapel has found new purpose since the restoratio­n was completed in 2016, hosting family gatherings, religious ceremonies and visiting school groups. It has also been home base for a science camp and a garden club event. Pat and I are delighted to see this place of extraordin­ary beginnings start a new life for future generation­s.

Jennie says, “I’m so impressed with the restoratio­n. This helps protect the legacy of the chapel’s founders, who did things despite facing difficult odds.”

Quite often people who have heard about the chapel and its rejuvenati­on show up with cameras and many questions. We are happy to show Glendale Chapel to visitors, but the ones we like the most are those who remember it from long ago and can tell us stories that add a little more to our understand­ing of this special place’s history.

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 ??  ?? Decades of neglect left Glendale Chapel (below) with unstable rock footings, no doors or windows, and a nearly destroyed interior.
Decades of neglect left Glendale Chapel (below) with unstable rock footings, no doors or windows, and a nearly destroyed interior.
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 ??  ?? Annie Shields and Pat York led the restoratio­n of Glendale Chapel.
Annie Shields and Pat York led the restoratio­n of Glendale Chapel.
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 ??  ?? Today Glendale Chapel (left) has an old wood stove that hearkens back to chilly school days (top) and pews facing the original pulpit (above).
Today Glendale Chapel (left) has an old wood stove that hearkens back to chilly school days (top) and pews facing the original pulpit (above).

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