McCaanan Missionary Baptist Church is a beautiful historic African American congregation in rural Burke County, organized in 1875 by Rev. Frank Cooper, just a decade after the Civil War. Many early members were sharecroppers on nearby Millhaven Plantation—one of the largest farming operations in the eastern United States. Millhaven’s roots stretch back to 1769, when Francis Paris began acquiring land along Brier Creek. The congregation’s first cemetery was located on the plantation, and members were buried there from the 1870s until the 1930s. After a flood washed out the bridge over Brier Creek, access to the cemetery was lost, and burials shifted to the present cemetery beside the church.

In the years following emancipation, churches were often the first—and most important—structures built by African American communities. As congregations grew in size and resources, many replaced their original meetinghouses with larger, more elaborate sanctuaries. McCaanan followed this pattern: the original 1875 building was replaced in 1890, and the current sanctuary, completed in 1912, still stands on the same site.

Rev. Cooper’s influence extended far beyond McCaanan. He organized five churches that together formed the Frank Cooper Missionary Baptist Association—a significant milestone, as Baptist Convention rules allowed associations to ordain ministers. This gave the congregations a greater measure of independence and leadership within the denomination. Many descendants of McCaanan’s founding members, including Rev. Cooper’s family, still live in the area and remain active in the church. The Cooper family farm, founded by Rev. Cooper in 1885, has grown to 300 acres and is still in family hands. In 2014, it received Georgia’s Centennial Family Farm Award, honoring farms owned by the same family for over a century.

Recognized for its historical and cultural significance, McCaanan Missionary Baptist Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. After nearly 150 years, it continues to serve as a place of worship, community gathering, and living heritage for families in Burke and Screven counties—a lasting testament to faith, resilience, and tradition.