Concord Methodist is the oldest Methodist church west of the Oconee River and the oldest in Putnam County. It was built along the oldest road in the county, the old stagecoach route from Milledgeville to Greensboro and Athens. Three successive structures have stood on this site, beginning with a log cabin raised in the fall of 1810 by Thomas Johnston and William Pritchard on one and one-quarter acres of land donated by John Robertson. The deed included a stipulation granting church members permanent access to a nearby spring for drinking water. Originally called Victory, the name was later changed to Concord.

That first cabin was a crude building—no glass windows, a dirt floor, a stone fireplace at one end, and rough split-log pews. It also served as a schoolhouse for the community.

To understand Concord’s beginnings, we must also look at the broader history of Putnam County. Established in 1807 from Baldwin County, Putnam was named for Revolutionary War General Israel Putnam. At the time, the county sat on the edge of the Creek Nation, with settlers pressing westward after land cessions in 1803. Land was distributed through the Georgia land lotteries, with lots of about 202 acres, and early Putnam quickly filled with small farms carved from the wilderness.

By the 1810s and 1820s, cotton production brought prosperity. According to historian George Gillman Smith, by 1830 many who had arrived with only a few enslaved people now owned dozens, and Putnam became one of Georgia’s most affluent counties. Elegant plantation homes appeared by the 1840s, marking a period of great wealth and hospitality.

The Civil War brought that era to an end, yet Concord endured. From its rough beginnings as a log chapel to nearly 200 years of continuous worship, Concord Methodist stands as one of the oldest and most significant spiritual landmarks in Georgia’s backcountry. Its members’ stewardship has ensured this historic treasure still serves the community today.