We have not been able to locate a lot of history on the old Midway church but if some emerges we will add to it as we go. There is a limited amount of information in the Pitts Library at Emory that tells us the church was built in 1857 on “land lot number 122 and fourteenth district”. The church was formed as a result of a consolidation of two earlier congregations – Liberty Hill Methodist and another called Rehoboth Methodist at Antioch. The old cemetery associated with the church is at the original Liberty Hill church location, close by but actually located in Heard County. Apparently the name Midway reflected the convenience of the new location.

The property for the church was donated by John T. Boykin, Sr. who donated three acres for its construction with the stipulation that if the church became abandoned or ceased to be used as a church, the property would revert back to the heirs of Mr. Boykin. These “reversion clauses” were fairly common in the 19th century. The Boykins were a local family of some wealth prior to the Civil War. The 1840 federal census shows John Jr. at the age of 39 living with wife, children and 16 slaves. His son, John Jr. served as a captain in Company F in the 21st Ga Infantry. He was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson in late 1865 for “all offenses by him committed, arising from participation, direct or implied in the said rebellion”.

The history tells us the church was built with donated lumber, labor and money from the members. It also states that some of the lumber was secured from the Wilder estate. The title to the surveyed land is interesting in that it reads “Beginning at a small chestnut oak bush near Mrs. Sloan’s line, thence running westward along said line to a sassafras bush; thence southward to a persimmon tree; then crossing the public road to another persimmon tree; thence northward to starting point”.

We are grateful to the congregation of Midway for their stewardship of this historic old church. It has been maintained with a strong sense of the architectural integrity that has survived for 150 years in this rural location on the edge of Troup County.