Photography by John Kirkland
Big Buckhead Baptist
Jenkins | Organized 1774
Big Buckhead Church, organized in 1774, is the third-oldest Baptist church in Georgia. Named for nearby Buckhead Creek, its current Greek Revival sanctuary was built in 1855 and stands as one of the most historically significant rural churches in the state. This is the fourth building to serve the congregation, and across the road lies a cemetery that tells the stories of the wealthy planters and enslavers who once worshiped here.
+ Continue readingThe church’s beginnings were unusual. Its first pastor, Reverend Matthew Moore, was a Loyalist—the only Baptist minister in Georgia to side with the British during the Revolutionary War. When Moore fled to Savannah and then England, the congregation became inactive, and many of its members were also loyal to the crown. Among them was Colonel Henry Sharp, a deacon who enslaved George Liele. Liele converted under Moore’s ministry and was freed before the Revolution. He went on to help found the First African Baptist Church in Savannah and later became the first Baptist missionary to Jamaica.
After the Revolution, the congregation reorganized in 1787. Successive sanctuaries rose on the site: a log structure, a framed building completed in 1807, and a costly brick church in 1830 that had to be dismantled due to structural flaws. The present meetinghouse, finished in 1855, has endured for more than 165 years.
Big Buckhead played host to major moments in Georgia Baptist life. Bishop Francis Asbury preached here in 1793, the Hephzibah Association was organized in 1794, and the Georgia Baptist Convention met here in 1831, resolving to establish a school that became Mercer University. After the Civil War, Black members left to form Carswell Grove Baptist Church, a congregation that continues today. Though now privately owned, Big Buckhead still opens for special events, a living witness to nearly 250 years of Georgia history.