History of Mt. Vernon Christian Church

"According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I
have laid the foundation, and another buildeth there-upon."
I Corinthians 3:10
 

The Beginning
     During the 1830's preaching in Walton County, Georgia, had been done by a
scholarly young minister, Rev. Philip F. Lamar. He had been educated by a
generous Christian woman of Augusta, Miss Emily Tubman, at Bethany College,
Bethany, West Virginia, a college established by the famous Alexander Campbell.
In him, was manifested some of A. Campbell's characteristic zeal and noble
purpose. Already, there were several families of religious influence in the
Mountain District Community, so because of his persuasive power in the preached
Word, they were convinced of the need of a church home. Consequent steps were
so taken.

     It is quite worthy of observation that worthwhile ambitions sometimes have
very small beginnings. Such was true regarding the beginning of historic Mt.
Vernon Christian Church. (The first records were recorded in ink made from ink
ball of oak trees and quite legible after a hundred years.)

     Preceding the first minutes of the church, we find this appropriate preamble:
Georgia, Walton County, August 24, 1843.

We the Church of Christ at Mt. Vernon do agree to take the
Scriptures for our only rule of Faith and Practice through life. Done
by order of the Church.
A. W. WRIGHT, D. C. C.

     The first house of worship was a small hewn-log house with mortised
corners held in place by handmade wooden pegs. There was no fireplace or stove
to provide heat. In that day, church attendance was prompted by a genuine desire
to worship and to hear the Word of God preached. Note the type of seats used
puncheons with two holes bored in each end for the legs, and there were no backs.
There were no facilities for lights, so the congregation assembled for preaching
both Saturday and Sunday mornings. Business was transacted after the Saturday
sermon. This building was used as a schoolhouse also.

     It was the custom of the times to build a home or church near a spring, so, on
October 17, 1842, a friend of the church, J. W. Vinson, granted as a gift, two acres
of land near the spring, which furnished continuously a generous supply of water.
This grant provided for the privilege of public school purposes also. His daughter
was granted the privilege of naming the church, so, she being impressed with the
beauty of George Washington's home, named it Mt. Vernon.

     About two years later, in 1844, this original house gave way to a small frame
one, adjacent to the first one. It was placed at a north and south position, a door at
each side, a door at the south end, and a high pulpit stand at the north end. It was
unpainted, unceiled, without loft or heat, and was lit by candled sconces bracketed
to the wall. In this building, wooden pegs were also used for heavy timbers, and
the hand wrought nails were made by Robert McGaughey and Apple White
Wright, members of the church. The boards for the roof were hand driven. In this,
second church house, we find the plank seats were fitted at the top with a narrower
plank used as a shoulder rest. The center aisle leading from the front door
separated the males from the females.

     Preaching in those days was more or less irregular, since Transylvania's
College of the Bible seemed far away; so, preachers in Georgia were not plentiful.
Along in the spring of 1873, John Tillman Hawkins, a young minister just
graduated from this college, came as a state evangelist to Georgia. Upon his visit to
Mt. Vernon, he found the high enclosed pulpit loft of Early English type entirely
too stifling for summer revival services. So, to his own liking, with saw and
hammer, which he secured from the hospitable, devout Aunt Jane McGaughey, he
fashioned a very simple Bible stand. This alteration was especially pleasing to Bro.
Billy Lowe, a visiting preacher of small stature, for he could scarcely see over the
former high enclosure. This building, too, was used as a public school house.

     Up to this time, burial rites were customarily performed at private burial
grounds, but in 1875 Elder Thomas Mason Foster, a new pastor, lately from
Transylvania, purchased a small plot of ground across the road for the interment of
his young child and for further use as a public
cemetery.
     

     On September 20, 1879, this first frame house was sold for $20 to the
trustees of Mt. Vernon Academy, exclusively for school purposes. This old house
was rolled to the south, and in its stead was erected the third house of worship,
another frame one, but the first one to be painted. This time its position was
changed; now the entrance was toward the east, just as it is currently found today.
There were two side entrances, and the two front entrances had aisles extending to
the front. A wooden partition about three feet high extended from the rear down
through the center of the building which divided the seating capacity of the males
from the females. There were "Amen" seats on both sides of the pulpit. Now there
were glass windows with green shutters. Lights were furnished by kerosene glasschimney
lamps placed on brackets against the wall. Heat was provided by a single
wood stove on the men's side, where firing was easy, while the women on the
opposite side kept warm as best they could. The pulpit stand was flanked on both
sides by a tall pedestal, which held a pitcher of water and a lamp, respectively. The
sacraments of the Lord's Supper were served from two plates and goblets provided
by a faithful sister who had also furnished the bread and wine from her home. The
offering was received by two deacons as they passed their hats. Baptismal rites
were performed about half a mile away in a pool about eight by ten feet, built
within a small stream, with wooden sides and wooden steps leading into the clear
water. Against the wall on the platform of the pulpit was placed a dipper and
bucket of sparkling water from the spring to quench the thirst of the children while
they showed off their Sunday meeting clothes.