Stirring Up a Hornet's Nest: - UGA Laboratory of Archaeology ...

Ground of Old Liberty Church." A person is standing on the right side of this photograph and his/her scale
suggests it was a fairly large cemetery. The cemetery appears to be near the top of a ridge (Presbyterian
Committee on Publication 1904:1-17).
Figure 6. Davis’ Profile Sketch Showing “headstone nearby of other grave”, “brick pile”, and “fence”
(Davis 1974).
The Georgia Historical Marker for Liberty-Salem-Woodstock-Philomath Church, which was erected in
1958 and is located on Georgia Highway 22 in Philomath, Oglethorpe County, states:
This ancient Church has served under four names and in four counties. Liberty Presbyterian Church was organized by the
Rev. Daniel Thatcher, about 1788. The original place of worship, a log house, was erected near War Hill, about seven miles
from the present site. The church was called "Liberty", because, though built by Presbyterians, all orthodox denominations
were allowed to use it. The Presbytery of Hopewell, formed Nov. 3, 1796, held its first session in Liberty Church on March
16, 1798. Soon after 1800, the log house was abandoned, and a new structure erected at the top of Starr's Hill on the old
Greensboro Post Road. The name of the church was then changed to Salem. The Rev. Francis Cummins was the first minister
to preach there. This building was used until 1834, when the location of the Greensboro road was changed, and a new church
edifice was erected at the site of the present Phillips Mills Baptist Church. The Rev. S. J. Cassels was the first pastor,
followed by the Rev. Francis R. Goulding. In 1848, the Salem church building was sold to the Baptists, and the entire
Presbyterian membership moved to Woodstock, now Philomath, where a new church edifice had been built. The Rev. John
W. Reid was pastor at the time of the removal
(Georgia Historical Commission 1958).
the Presbyterian Church in the study vicinity:
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Figure 7. Davis’ Unlabeled Profile of
Suspected Chimney (Davis 1974).
Faz provided this historical summary of
In 1783 a group of descendants of Scots Covenanters from Pennsylvania came to Wilkes Co. what is now Oglethorpe Co. 1
mile SW of Lexington and built a fort on a hill. Rev. John Newton came to GA [from Pennsylvania] to do missionary work
among the Indians in 1784 from Mecklenburg Co., NC. Newton ended up ministering to the Scots who built a log meeting
house next to the fort in 1785. The church was called Beth-Salem. He started New Hope in what would become Madison Co.
in 1793. Most likely he had a hand in forming Liberty. Beth-Salem is usually considered the 1st Presbyterian church
organized in GA. I can't swear to that but that is what the sign out front says. My great grandfather, George C. Smith, wrote
an unpublished history of a few pages, of Beth-Salem, now Lexington Presbyterian Church. I have been told the four graves
next to Liberty Church are the Nelsons and the Simpsons. Lou Singleton is the source of that bit of information. John
Newton died in 1796 leaving New Hope and Beth-Salem without a minister for a year or two (Carolyn Bryant Faz personal
communication, April 10, 2008),
Faz concluded:
The 3rd Liberty Church is called Philomath Presbyterian Church now. It is not an active church at this time. But the town of
Philomath has an association that is restoring it…Just that Samuel Whatley was probably preaching there at the same time as
some of the Presbyterians. And it is quite possible that some of the Presbyterians' tenure over lapped because they were
supply preachers at the same time (Carolyn Bryant Faz, personal communication April 10, 2008).
The sequence of preachers who may have preached at the small sanctuary building known as Liberty at
Kettle Creek, based on Faz’s research, are summarized as follows: