Stanly Church of Christ is one of those quiet mountain churches tucked away in the Chattahoochee National Forest, near the Toccoa River in a remote part of Fannin County. It was organized by the Stanley family, who came from Avery County, North Carolina, in the early to mid-19th century. The current church was built in 1886, according to family member Ralph Stanley, though a church existed on the site before that. The nearby creek is named for Elisha Stanley, whose grave is the oldest in the cemetery. Elisha and his brother-in-law, Elv Evan Hughes, were both shot as deserters by Confederate soldiers in September 1864. This part of Georgia had few plantations and was largely pro-Union, and many men like Elisha and Elv paid a high price for their loyalties.

Family member Lawrence Stanley wrote in 1971 that the church began as a Primitive Baptist congregation and also served as a community schoolhouse for up to 40 children. In the early 1900s, it became a Church of Christ. Regular services ended in 1957, but an annual homecoming is still held on the fourth Sunday in August, drawing hundreds of descendants from across the country.

The Stanley family’s history includes colorful stories, from local feuds to tales of moonshine, murder, and even witchcraft. One particularly notable figure buried here is Moses Johnson, the first African American to attend school in Fannin County. According to local accounts, during the Civil War, two brothers found him as an infant in the ruins of the Johnson Plantation in Fairmont, Georgia. They brought him to Fannin County, where he was raised by Rickels Stanley. His simple headstone reads, “Mose Johnson – Colored.”

Another unusual grave is that of Buel Stanley’s arm—buried here in 1915 after he lost it while fishing with dynamite in the Toccoa River. The rest of him rests at Macedonia Church of Christ.

Today, Stanly Church of Christ sits well cared for on a knoll overlooking the Blue Ridge. The cemetery holds 282 recorded interments, more than 100 with the Stanley name—a testament to the family’s deep roots in this part of Georgia for nearly two centuries.