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Photo Gallery: Pierce Memorial Methodist Church
Marker
text:
The first regular appointment for Sparta as a preaching place
on a circuit was in 1799 with George Dougherty, one of the great preachers
of the period as pastor. In 1802, Bishop Francis Asbury preached in the
courthouse.
In 1806, the South Carolina Conference, of which Sparta was a member, held
its session in Sparta and the town appears for the first time as head of the
Sparta Circuit. That same year, Robert Flournoy, a Revolutionary soldier,
deeded a lot to John Lucas and Henry Mose, trustees of the Methodist Society
of Sparta. On this lot, the previous year, a church had been built. It
served, with necessary remodelling, for 105 years until 1910, when it was
destroyed by fire. In 1906 the Centennial of Sparta Methodism was
celebrated. This building was completed in 1934.
Many prominent pastors have served this church - George Dougherty, Jesse
Lee, Bishop Atticus G. Haygood, Bishop Warren A. Chandler. Though Bishop
George F. Pierce was never pastor here, for many years he considered it his
home church.
070-10 Georgia Historical Commission 1958 |