TWIGGS COUNTY, Ga. — Our relationship with God is a deeply personal topic, yet it's usually a social experience. It's comforting and many times passionate. This is Sacred Spaces; a series that takes a look at the deep history of some sanctuaries across Central Georgia.
Richland Baptist in Twiggs County was important at the turn of the century and is still relevant today.
"This road that it's on, this was a thriving community. Richland was the name of this community. That's changed as farms moved and things like that, but this was a big part of the economic picture of the state back then in the mid 1800s," said Richland Restoration League president, Ben Huffman.
Many churchgoers have connections to early parishioners who attended the church. The original members drafted the papers for Richland Baptist in 1811. It was named for nearby Richland Creek that ran through that part of Twiggs County.
“It had a charter member of 12. Four males, eight females and one female, Corey Hodges, African American,” said Heyward McKie.
This was 50 years before the Civil War, when most Black people in the South were enslaved. To have a woman of color among the founders of Richland would set the tone for the place of worship for decades to come.
“Before the Civil War, the Black membership was up to 165,” said McKie.
McKie is a student of history. He realizes that while Richland was inclusive -- those 165 members made up 70% of the congregation at the time -- it was still a segregated congregation.
"The men would sit on one side, the women on the other, and it was the same upstairs for the slaves,” he said.
"A lot of people whose family was here 200 years ago, they're still here and they still remember and they know their history," said Huffman said.
Crosses put up by the Richland Restoration League stand among the cemetery's ornamental iron, guarded by swaying Spanish moss.
"Those are graves that are not marked, and we continue to find those and we have plans to do more on the other side of the church," said Huffman.
Crews also recently came in to restore the side of the church. The bricks, caked in red clay, are now going out the door as a fundraiser.
Richland represents the past and the future. A house of worship with deep roots and people working together to keep it's regal story alive. At one point, Richland became the largest church in the Ebenezer Baptist Association.
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