Emmaus Primitive Baptist Church in Charlton County (not to be confused with the congregation of the same name in Berrien County) sits on a bend of a remote sandy road that ends at the St. Marys River, only a few hundred yards away. Like other Old Line Primitive Baptist churches, it is a plain, unpainted wooden structure with no adornments, steeple, or portico.

The church was organized on May 22, 1858, with seven members: Thomas Crawford, A. P. Murhee, William B. Connor, Mary Connor, and Sarah Johns among them. Records prior to 1868 have been lost, but later records show pastors including William R. Crawford, John Crawford, John D. Knight, and John O. Gibson. Clerks included Henry M. Gainey, R. S. Davis, R. N. Chisom, A. W. Hodges, N. S. Connor, and D. W. Connor.

Primitive Baptists in the Wiregrass region organized into Associations, but doctrinal disagreements sometimes caused divisions. The term “Primitive” refers to being “original” rather than backward. In the 1870s, conflict arose over the Georgia Homestead Act, which allowed debtors to repay only part of what they owed. Many Primitive Baptists opposed its use, but some members, including the son of Elder Reuben Crawford, did take advantage of it. Disagreement between Crawford and Elder Richard Bennett caused a major split in the Alabaha River Association, creating two factions: Crawfordites and Bennettites. Emmaus aligned with the Crawfordite, or Hendrix, faction.

According to county history, Emmaus joined the Hendrix faction in 1960 and was disbanded around 1985, after the death of Elder Hendrix left the faction without a pastor. Without an elder to perform baptism, communion, and foot washing, the church could not sustain itself.

Although organized in 1858, the current sanctuary likely dates to the 1870s, based on its architecture and the oldest marked graves in the adjoining cemetery, which remains active. As with many historic cemeteries, unmarked graves likely exist where wooden markers have long since vanished.

Wiregrass Primitive Baptist churches emerged in southeast Georgia in the early 19th century and remain active today. For those interested in this distinct and deeply rooted tradition, Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South by John G. Crowley offers an in-depth history.