Pleasant Grove African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church and Camp Meeting
Pleasant Grove A.M.E. Church was organized June 29, 1869 at Taylor´s Creek, GA. Rev. Piner Martin was the first pastor. The first church, a small frame house, was named A.M.E. Church of the U.S.A. Sixteen acres of land were later purchased to build a larger church named Pleasant Grove. Trustees were Sam Frasier, Syrus Smiley, Sam Martin, and Sol Smith.
The U.S. Government purchased the original church site to establish Fort Stewart in 1941. In 1943 a new church was built on Highway 38 in Allenhurst, GA. Rev Garfield Jackson was pastor. R.W. Bacon, J.F. Slater, W.A. Frasier, I.S. Frasier comprised the building committee.
The Pleasant Grove Camp Meeting is recognized as the sole event reuniting African American families of the Taylor´s Creek, Wille, Cypress Slash, Strum Bay and other disbanded communities. For those former residents Camp Meeting is the "tie that binds".
Erected 2003 by the Liberty County Historical Society
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: David Seibert.