04/02/2024
In partnership with , LPC is developing a modified Historic Structure Report for the Historic Woolsey Church located on Hampton Rd in Woolsey, GA.
The Woolsey Baptist Church, originally named Harmony Grove Missionary Baptist Church, was first organized in August 1888 by 23 members of the Antioch Baptist Church that decided to leave the Antioch congregation. This group of congregants included minister Dr. I. G. Woolsey. It is recorded that the group worshipped in a storehouse located east of the Southern Railroad until Dr. Woolsey donated land for the construction of a permanent church. The new wood frame church was dedicated in March 1889. Dr. Woolsey served as the minister of Harmony Grove Missionary Baptist for eight years. Two years after his death in 1902, the church was renamed in his honor, Woolsey Baptist Church.
After the church experienced damage due to a 1947 storm, a church improvement program was organized in 1950. Throughout the 1950s, the church underwent numerous alterations which included the replacement of the original dual entrances with a single centered entrance, ghost lines of the original entrances are still extant today. The construction of Sunday School rooms on the rear of the church were also part of this improvement program. In the following decades, further alterations and additions were made to the church and its site.
Friends of Historic Woolsey has begun the removal of non-original materials. At the time of LPC's assessment, historically unsympathetic drywall and drop ceilings had already been removed. Though the church has undergone numerous alterations throughout its 135 year lifetime, LPC noted it retains several historic materials such as a cedar shake roof beneath an asphalt roof and original pine floor beneath oak floors. While on site Greg investigated the church's structural integrity, Lauren took measurements for architectural drawings, and Robin performed the general assessment.
Historic 📸: Courtesy of Jamie
