9. Shiloh-Marion Baptist Church and Cemetery
The Shiloh-Marion Baptist Church and cemetery represent some of the few remaining structures of the Church Hill settlement. The influx of white settlers after the 1827 land lottery was accompanied by improvement of old trading paths combined with the creation of a network of new roads.
Church Hill (which may have first been called Centerville) was established in 1835. The church was located at a crossroads of the Old Salt Trail which connected Columbus to the coastal town of St. Mary’s, Georgia. Church Hill was a bustling community with five churches, including Christian Union (1840-1870), Evan Chapel Methodist Church (1838-1898), Mount Pisgah Free Will Baptist Church (dates unknown), Shiloh Baptist Church (1835-present), and Smyrna Presbyterian Church (1838-1925). In addition, it was home to the Centerville Academy (school) established in 1838 by the Presbyterian Church. By 1865, twenty-four families lived in the community. In the 1886-1887 Georgia Gazetteer Church Hill was described as having a bank, depot, express and telegraph office “an excellent academy, commons schools, steam gins and grist mills. One thousand bales of cotton the main exports. Mail weekly.”
Shiloh-Marion Baptist Church, Marion County, GA. Photography courtesy of David Rush, 2016.
Shiloh-Marion Baptist Church is a simple, one-story, one-room Greek revival style church. An excellent example of antebellum rural architecture, it held regular services between 1836 and 1935. With a gable roof and covered in pine weather-board siding, the exterior has little ornamentation. A path through the woods leads to the baptismal pool, which is located at the head of two springs. The cemetery, separated from the church by a dirt road, contains two types of burial markers, traditional headstones and numerous stone-piled graves. Two regions of the cemetery are identified as the location of Former Slaves and Native American graves.
Submission composed by Shayna Hayworth, April 16, 2016.
References and Further Reading
National Register of Historic Places, Shiloh Marion Baptist Church, Marion County, Georgia, National Register #84001159.