The little church that could - or could it?

The beauty of living in Fayette County is that the county has one foot in the big city and the other in the country; one foot in the here and now, the other in the past.

From Starr’s Mill south, little has changed in the 35 years we’ve known it. There are still orchards, fields full of grazing cattle, easy green hills, and the startling profile of Pine Mountain lying crosswise to the usual configuration of mountain ridges in the Southeast.

The little towns in Coweta, Meriwether, Spaulding, and Pike counties are quietly rich with histories of their own. We were surprised to learn, for instance, that Senoia was once a hub of industry, especially hat- and shoemaking during the Civil War, and had several institutions of higher learning.

But it is to tiny Haralson that I wish to draw your attention.

Haralson sits astride Georgia Hwy. 85, in Coweta County about eight miles south of Starr’s Mill, almost at the Meriwether County line.

I’ve been unable to determine why families from South Carolina migrated to Coweta County in such numbers, although several researchers suppose it was the availability of fertile land and the land lottery which allowed a lucky would-be farmer to acquire 202.5 acres for a $20 filing fee.

Mostly Lutherans, they came from Newberry and Lexington counties. One of the churches they left behind was named Mt. Pilgrim, another just Pilgrim.

Haralson’s history is fairly typical of the small towns in Coweta and Meriwether. The date of its founding is uncertain, but it was a thriving community at least a half century before it was incorporated in 1907.

Cotton was king indeed. Farming - including peach orchards - required warehouses and packing plants. A railroad made it possible for rural folks to sell goods or shop in Atlanta, or to ride to Warm Springs, then a resort, for a weekend outing.

At one time, Haralson had a cotton gin, a blacksmith shop, a grist mill and syrup mills. There were a horse and mule trader, three general merchandise stores, two doctors and a drug store, a millinery shop and an elementary school. The post office was established in Otto Hutchinson’s department store. And in 1909 the Redwine Brothers Bank opened its doors with $25,000.

The town had no electricity until 1937; water was supplied by homeowners’ wells. The city limits were extended outwards twice and there was much pride in the fine homes built within.

Did I mention churches? Three strong congregations emerged. Church membership and attendance were the heart of small communities, and Haralson was no exception. The History of Coweta County says, “In the horse-and-buggy days, on Sundays most of the shade trees in the churchyards had horses tied to every limb.”

There was Haralson Baptist, established by the Callahan, Carlton, Kirk, and Gilbert families, and Haralson Methodist, founded by Garrisons, Bishops, Gables, Addys, and Hutchinsons, among others.

And there was Mt. Pilgrim Lutheran Church, led by the Rev. Levi Bedenbaugh and the Rawls, Glover, Taylor, Swygert, and Counts families, to name a few.

If you ask members of Mt. Pilgrim when their church was officially organized, you’ll find that few subjects engender such a spirited discussion. There are compelling reasons to believe this took place in 1839, 1840, or 1841. The current supply pastor, the Rev. Richard McLeroy, votes for 1840, a fair compromise if there ever was one.

Mt. Pilgrim’s first sanctuary was located about a mile west of town on (today’s) Gordon Road, and was used until 1891. The second, a wooden structure where today’s building stands, burned down in 1927 when its steeple was struck by lightning. Very little was saved, although some church record books, fortunately, were in a parishioner’s house.

The loss of the little wooden church was especially poignant because the country was just entering the Great Depression, and the South was being ravished by the boll weevil. The grieving congregation didn’t see how it could rebuild. But rebuild it did, with no interruption of worship services, thanks to the generosity of the Methodists who opened their sanctuary to their displaced neighbors.

Every member of the congregation joined in the rebuilding project as best they could. Nat Gray donated timber and Austin Blanton milled it free. A loan covered other expenses, including a contractor.

The women of the church sold homemade ice cream on the streets of Haralson on Saturdays. Children as young as 10 or 11 helped lay flooring, and Muller Wingard, a woodcrafter, built a new altar, lectern and pulpit.

Years earlier, members of Mt. Pilgrim planted several other Lutheran congregations, most notably The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Atlanta, in 1903. Redeemer was only the second Lutheran church in Atlanta, the first English-speaking.

Mt. Pilgrim also contributed to the founding of St. Phillips in Senoia, sharing their pastor on alternate Sundays. It was hard to fund a full-time pastor, and eventually St. Phillips disorganized and sold its building to another denomination. Redeemer, however, flourishes and has increased from 39 founding members to about 2,600 worshippers per week. When Mt. Pilgrim was rebuilding, Redeemer donated a small pipe organ and a baptismal font to the Coweta congregation. St. Phillips gave some hymnals. A member was able to get wholesale prices on a furnace and chairs for the choir.

A well was bored and an electric pump and plumbing installed.

Electricity for the church was provided by a neighbor’s home battery system until Georgia Power extended lines through town.

Continued next week.