Who we are and how we got here
Do you know where you came from?
Not just the hospital in the city where you live now, but where your real roots are? Do you know the stories of your area and the people who came before you? Do you know the tales that weave the fabric of our state and Nation’s history?
In our tech-savvy, modern world, it’s easy to imagine that we could easily become disconnected from our roots and the stories of the people who founded the places that we call home now. But as we move forward so rapidly, it’s more important than ever to know and understand complex and beautiful places where we began.
Who we are and how we got here.
And as luck would have it, the stars would align, allowing us to create this project to help us figure out that very question so that we can continue to share these stories with future generations too.
How Historic Rural Churches of Georgia Got Its Start
After a back road ramble one day, old friends and Atlanta residents, Sonny Seals and George Hart, stumbled upon a picturesque old country church that called their attention.
As fortune would have it, Sonny would discover the grave of his great-grandfather, whom he knew little about. He did a little bit of research and uncovered the importance of this small but important rural village that has since faded into near obscurity.
A place where his own people had come from, yet he had never even heard of it.
More trips down the backroads, and we would discover more historic rural gems like Powelton. Some with dwindling congregations, and some had been left to the elements after their communities vanished. In the small communities with names that no one recognizes anymore, the history that once lived here many inching closer to disappearing completely from the landscape without its stories being told.
So we set out to do something about this, and with that, Historic Rural Churches of Georgia was born.
We established ourselves as a non-profit 501 (c) (3,) and then we teamed up with an impressive group of volunteer photographers across our state. Alongside some fantastic researchers and academic resources, we have documented and researched more than 450 churches across our state, and we are always adding more!
I love your book, the second one. I read it, and took 9 pages of notes. Question: I have two benches from a rural Georgia church, that date back to well before the 1950s, when the churches began “fading.” A good friend, a former Georgia resident, got the benches from his parents in the ealy 1950s I’d love to know more about the bench, and ideally what church, or what type of church it came from. It is quite small— 51″ inches in length, with small, 13″ “seats”. Can I send you a photo of the bench, and see what you can tell me about it? I bought your book after receiving the 2 benches.
James Greene, 4834 S. Sioux Avenue, Sierra Vista, AZ, 85650. Thank you very much!
Hello James, thanks for reading our book! We hope you’ll check out the first one someday too!
In regards to the benches, I’m not sure we will be able to identify anything about them, but if you could email us a picture, we can take a look. Please include the information you posted here to go along with it. info@hrcga.org