The story of Methodism begins early in the history of St. Marys. The city was founded on the coast of southeast Georgia, just above the Florida line, in 1787. In 1799, George Clark was sent "to preach and if possible form a circuit." The nearby country was then described as "sparsely settled with poor people...all scattered through the forest without religion and education..."

Later the same year, John Garvin was appointed to settlements along the St. Marys and Satilla rivers. This young Englishman, who had just come from the wilds of Africa as a missionary to the Georgia-Spanish Florida frontier, reported fourteen members after a year's work.

St. Marys Methodist records go back no further than 1839, but somewhere in the town, perhaps the town hall, Methodists were meeting before their first church was built in 1812. This was on a 200x200 lot from Public Square 9, deeded to church trustees by city officials. (Clearly they had different ideas of what separation of church and state meant in those early days of the Constitution!)

The original church was described as "a plain wooden building" with slatted-back benches for pews. "The entrance was by two doors at the south end. The one at the right was for females and the other for males, as the opposite sexes were not allowed to sit together."

In the 1830's, James Osgood Andrew, the first native-born Methodist Bishop, visited St. Marys. He wrote that he found St. Marys to be "the poorest spot he had yet encountered and certainly if poverty of soil be any sign of health, St. Marys must be one of the healthiest spots in the land."

These were the years when Methodist's preacher's salaries were around sixty-four dollars annually. Bishop Andrew said of the men who dared to enter the ministry, "If our poverty were our purity, some of us ought to be purified ere long..."

By 1841 the Sabbath School had an enrollment of sixty-four scholars and eleven teachers, with three hundred volumes in the church library. Church records show not only new enrollments, but also removal of members. Although an 1849 writer believed that St. Marys inhabitants have a high reputation of morals and intelligence, members of the St. Marys Methodist Church were being expelled for reasons as varied as profanity, general immorality, lying, intemperance, and adultery.

In 1850, the Sunday School was reported to be "in tolerable good condition." However, four years later services were suspended "in consequence of the fearful pestilence of yellow fever."

Church officials recorded in 1856 that a new building was needed because "the one we worship in is so thoroughly rotten as to be beyond repair." The older one was replaced sometime between then and September 1858, when builders S.L. Burns and John Peal placed a lien on "the new Methodist Episcopal church and the premises on which it is erected for material and labor valued at $695." This is the building still used as a chapel by the St. Marys United Methodist Church (see picture below).

From 1863-1865 public buildings in St. Marys were closed by order of Federal military authorities. Church records state that "St. Marys was in possession of the enemy during the war, the church closed, the flock scattered." Indications are that Union troops used the church building as a slaughterhouse during the Civil War.

After services resumed in 1866, records claim "the Methodist Sabbath School is now in prosperous condition." But a personal letter written that year tells of a planned revival with the hopes "It will result in some good, we all need waking up."

By 1872 church members were able to pay $75 for a cabinet organ and the preacher was receiving $250 annually (with board). Four years later, although membership had grown to eighty-five members, Pastor Benjamin Key felt that "the church can never be what it ought to be until the members are all of one heart and mind."

Changes to the sanctuary came in 1892 with the removal of the balcony and the installation of gas lights. Choir space was provided and the building repainted. A porch and chimney were added sometime in this period, too.

On October 27, 1909, Arthur J. Moore received his license to preach while serving as assistant to St. Marys pastor John W. Simmons. After he became Bishop, Arthur Moore credited Pastor Simmons with many of the ideals and convictions that remained with him throughout his great life as his ministry eventually extended world-wide.

During the 1900's the town of St. Marys experienced economic growth, causing church membership changes with a number of new families moving in.

In these years, a transition in the mood of the church is seen from the concern for the spiritual needs of the membership to an emphasis on the physical plant of the church. Yet the church's work continued to move forward through the next decades.

The Reverend Bird Yarbrough was pastor in St. Marys during a difficult time--the closing years of an economic depression, another rapid population growth with the opening of the paper mill, and wartime concerns with many young men departing for military service. His tenure, 1939-45, saw many church roll changes, extensive renovation of the sanctuary, addition of a lighted cross honoring loyal servicemen, and memorial gifts of a Hammond organ and chimes.

Rev. Billy Key's pastorate saw real improvement in the spiritual and physical circumstances of the congregation. Attendance increased such that two morning services were needed. Modern buildings joined the historical with the construction of a new brick parsonage in 1958 and dedicated as the Signora Bachlott Memorial. The following year, an educational building housing classrooms, study, kitchen, and social hall was completed to replace an older frame structure built in the 1930's. All of this construction was needed as the membership grew from 333 to 428 between 1957 and 1960.

Even with two services, the old sanctuary was not up to the wear and tear of the growing congregation. The new sanctuary with a seating capacity of 360 opened on September 11, 1966, under the ministry of Reverend J. Loy Scott.

In 1981, St. Marys United Methodist Church was recognized as a Historical Site in Methodism when documentation proved that the St. Marys church was the tie between Georgia and Florida Methodism. This dated to 1822, when Elijah Sinclair was appointed to serve both St. Marys and Amelia Island, established as the first Methodist appointment in Florida only a year after the Spanish territory was formally ceded to the United States.

Construction equipment moved in again in mid 1993, when a new fellowship hall and educational facility was added. The old social hall was converted into classrooms to serve the increasing Sunday School. We moved into the new facility, named Bailey Hall, in 1994. 1996 brought the twin pleasures of paying off the debt on both the church office and the new building. What a pleasure, to be debt-free!

Our most recent construction projects have been the renovation of the Happy Apple Academy/Education wing in 1997, and the building of a new parsonage at 112 Nancy Drive in 1999. The children have greatly enjoyed their improved factilities! Both of these projects were paid for before construction started.

THIS IS AN INTERIOR VIEW OF OUR CHURCH.
The slanted pulpit is an unusual feature.
The lighted cross, of stained glass and sand, adds color and beauty to the setting.

In August, 2001, 760 members are enrolled in the St. Marys United Methodist Church. Worship attendance averages 380 between the two services, while the Sunday School sees 215 students regularly. We see new faces regularly, especially with the growth in St. Marys and Camden County from the Kings Bay Naval Base. Growth always brings changes. Still, as one pastor of the last century reported, "Our good members are still faithful and the worthless ones have not improved any that we can see," but "all things considered, we report the state of the church tolerably good."

THANKS FOR VISITING OUR HISTORY AND PHOTO PAGE! We hope you will visit with us.
We are located at 106 East Conyers St, one block east of Osbourne St.
We're in downtown St. Marys, across the block from Orange Hall, three blocks from the river. The links below will lead you to more information about our congregation.