Fowlstown Methodist (Decatur County, Ga.)

Fowlstown Methodist was built in 1887 and has been inactive since 1962, a fate common to these old rural treasures serving small farm communities as the congregations slowly withered away. However, Fowlstown Methodist has a second life as a wedding chapel and event menu. She is now "The Church On the Farm" and available for service once again on the family farm of Mr. J. B. Swicord. His father owned all the land around the church and the family lived next door to it. He grew up attending services there and recalls it used to be his job to go down and start a fire in the winter, or open the windows in summer. The church was put up for sale and Mr. Swicord bought it in 1967, not knowing what he would do with it but wanting to keep it in the family and the Fowlstown community.Recently, Mr. Swicord and his grandson decided to move the church to its present location and set up "The Church on the Farm". This required some repairs and renovation but it was done very well. The earliest records say Fowlstown Methodist was built in 1855 and was located in the Greenshade community cemetery a couple of miles away. There are earlier graves in the cemetery and it is reasonable to assume that a church was there prior to 1855, likely a log structure or a simple brush arbor. The Greenshade Tabernacle, a Baptist church, was located at Greenshade from 1858 to 1896. The Greenshade Methodist Episcopal Church was sold in 1887 and the congregation then split between Fowlstown and Faceville, both located nearby. The Faceville Methodist church still has an active congregation but the Fowlstown Methodist Church conducted its last service in 1962. The cemetery is still active and there you will find many of Georgia's early pioneers.