GA-016-1 Union Meeting House (Organized 1790)

Marker text: UNION MEETING HOUSE (Organized 1790)

Three miles east of this point, on the old River Road, is located Union Meeting House (Methodist), the oldest church in Bulloch county, and one of the oldest churches in Georgia remaining continuously active since its organization. Title was acquired from the State by grant to Joseph Jackson, Jarvis Jackson, Lemuel Williams, Griffin Merrill and Joshua Hodges, Trustees, dated September 1, 1794, recorded in Screven County, the land being then a part of that county. Plat made about that time by William Blair, an Irishman, showed the meeting house already located on the land, indicating its earlier origin.

Out of this church and community have come many devout men and women. Among the earlier members was the famed Lydia Anciaux, widow of Col. Nicholas Anciaux, a Frenchman and Revolutionary War hero, whose daughter became wife of Senator McPherson Berrien, Attorney general in President Andrew Jackson`s cabinet. Legend says that Bishop Francis Asbury preached there and Lorenzo Dow also visited and preached there.

Georgia Historical Commission, 1953