Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church

Any time you see a birth year in the 1700s in Georgia you are looking at OLD cemeteries. Such was the case when we popped in to check out the Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church cemetery. At least one marked with a birth in 1794. The church was not established until 1823, and the county where it is was not established as part of the state until 1822. So it is safe to say these people qualify as Original Settlers.

The site is actually rather nice and well maintained.

One thing that stood out was the number of False Tomb monuments dating from the mid 1800s. Sadly these are seriously dirty and eroding. Would be that the time and finances allowed for proper cleaning and photographing them. Because the day will come when the only legible versions will be photographs. And given their condition today, that day is not so long away.

Another semi-common thing that stood out is the use of concrete to completely cover a given plot.

Nothing communicates 'Don't Even Think About Burying Anyone Here!' quite like a slab of concrete. Granted, it cuts down on maintenance needs. But at the same time the components in cement or concrete can damage the marker stone over time. Mother Nature does enough of that on her own. No need to help things along.

We came across one helluva good trick. Approaching the marker we saw this engraving:

"Joined The Church Dec 1 1853"

Walking around to the front of the marker we saw her name and birth and death dates:

Julia

Wife Of

E. H. Gresham

June 6 1874

Feb 16 1910

Joined the church 21 years before she was born? That is one impressive trick! I wonder if there are any mentions of a Blue Box in the local history.......

This old chap almost certainly came down to claim a land bounty for service in the Revolution, as did so many others who served.

When I saw the name I kept hearing Jimmy Stewart's voice in my head. "Well, well, uh, gee, Mr. Gower." If you need that one explained, well, damn. What rock have you been living under?