Located just a few miles from the eastern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp near Folkston, Sardis Primitive Baptist Church is one of the oldest Baptist congregations in interior southeastern Georgia. Along with High Bluff Primitive Baptist Church in Brantley County, Sardis was constituted in 1819, before Native Americans had been fully removed from the region. The church moved to its current site in 1840, situated on a ridge above Long Branch, where baptisms were once held at the stream. Portions of the existing structure may date from that move.

When Sardis was organized, all Baptists shared the same doctrine. In the 1830s, a dispute over missionary support divided the denomination into Southern (Missionary) Baptists and Primitive Baptists. “Primitive” in this context means “Original,” reflecting a strict adherence to the teachings of Christ and a rejection of practices not found in scripture. In the 1870s, another split arose among Primitive Baptists over the Georgia Homestead Act. Elder Reuben Crawford of Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church supported the Act, and his followers became known as Crawfordites.

Crawfordite churches rejected ornamentation, favoring plain, unpainted meeting houses. At Sardis, men and women entered through separate end doors and sat on opposite sides, symbolizing that marriage was secondary to one’s relationship with God. Visitors and the unbaptized sat in benches facing the pulpit.

The adjacent cemetery holds many of the area’s earliest settlers, though only 30 headstones predate 1900. The oldest marked grave is that of James Brown Jones (1772–1844). A 28-year gap before the next oldest stone likely reflects the widespread use of wooden markers, nearly all lost to time. Among the 1,150 burials are nine Confederate veterans, identified today by flags placed by civic groups.

For nearly two centuries, Sardis served as both a church and at times a schoolhouse. In recent years, membership fell below the three required to remain active, and the church lost fellowship with other Alabaha River Association congregations. In 2016, the courts granted ownership of the church and cemetery to the cemetery association, whose preservation-minded members are committed to its care. The future of this historic Wiregrass landmark is now more secure.