Page 76

20204RD

BY JANISSE RAY | PHOTOS BY DAPHNE WALKER There are many things in life worth saving...like an old wooden church whose walls hold a hundred years of memories. While some see a derelict structure unworthy of saving, a local group of history lovers see hope and a future. In 1916, the Department of Education sent its rural school agent, M.L. Duggan, roving the state to assess country schools. Duggan traveled 12 miles east of Lyons into the western edge of Tattnall County to photograph a two-room school named Cedar Grove. He arrived while class was in session. In Duggan’s photograph, published that year in a small pamphlet, at least 35 children are standing in front of a tall, wood-framed building with a wooden vent in the gable. This picture is important. The building was actually a church, and this church yet stands – although everything else around it is gone – and a group of folks have decided to restore it. Cedar Grove Methodist Church was organized in 1887 in a home in the Cedarhaw District of Tattnall County. Soon after, a wood-framed, high-ceilinged sanctuary was sturdily built by hand of local heart pine and cypress. It had long, narrow, center-pivot windows that swung outward from the bottom, with no screens. Ten-foot benches were fashioned of slats. The church was active for years and years, both as a church and as part the community school. In the society column in a 1917 Tattnall Journal, Mr. and Mrs. Leland Kennedy have taken in the all-day sing at Cedar Grove. Quarterly conferences were being held and the 1918 trustees reported that their annual expenses were about $15.00. Their 1926 report said, “We have a very good Sunday school at Cedar Grove.” Even after the school moved into a modern, brick building, the church continued. In 1951, the county newspaper advertised that a “revival of olden days” would begin on September 9 at 8 p.m. “There will be a bus run for all services and a good attendance is expected,” it said. Other revivals followed. By 1975, however, the church closed its doors. After two brief attempts to reopen in 1979 and 1980, it was shuttered permanently. In 1982, two people were listed on the membership roll; Cedar Grove had no pastor, no services, no sings, no revivals. 74 Toombs County Magazine


20204RD
To see the actual publication please follow the link above