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By Sonny Seals & George Hart
Aspects of Georgia’s unique history can only be told through it’s extent rural churches. These early structures ranged from primitive structures to those with more elaborate architecture. The churches were always the center of the community, furnishing every social need from spiritual comfort to law and order.
From these rural communities sprang the villages, towns, counties and cities that informed the way Georgia was organized and governed.
The book presents forty-seven houses of worship from all areas of the state. Nearly three hundred stunning color photographs capture the simple elegance of these sanctuaries and their surrounding grounds and cemeteries. Some of them are thriving but many have suffered from neglect and require immediate attention.
“When Rosalynn and I grew up in rural Georgia, the church served as the center of our lives. I believe this was true for nearly all others in our region….To understand the history of Georgia, it is essential to understand the role that religion played in the lives of the people.…. I am proud to be associated with the book and the movement to preserve the historic rural churches of Georgia.” - President Jimmy Carter
"I am proud to be
associated with this
book and the movement to preserve the historic rural churches of Georgia." - foreword by president Jimmy Carter
“The sight of an old church strikes a chord deep within us, as if the hymns and prayers that rose in them transformed the structures themselves into sanctums. Surely, we have entered sacred ground with this rich and lovely book of photographs of Georgia’s historic rural churches. – Janisse Ray, author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood