Carswell Grove Baptist Church and Cemetery (1842–1846 Big Buckhead Church Road, near the hamlet of

Perkins Perkins is a surname derived from the Anglo-Saxon corruption of the kin of Pierre (from Pierre kin to Pierrekin to Perkins), introduced into England by the Norman Conquest. It is found throughout mid- and southern England. Another derivation com ...

, about 7 miles north of the city of Millen, in

Jenkins County, Georgia Jenkins County is a county located in the southeastern area of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,674. The county seat is Millen. The county was created on August 17, 1905, and named after the 44th Governor ...

) is a historic Black church and cemetery which are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1996. The church, a replacement for an earlier church burned in 1919, was destroyed by arson in 2014. A different historic church, the Big Buckhead Baptist Church, is located a few hundred yards southwest. Prior to the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

blacks had worshipped there in segregated pews; "the negroes, whether free or slave, were quiet spectators" because they were considered members of the church with the same status as converted heathens in foreign lands.The Hephzibah Baptist Association Centennial, 1794-1894
By Washington L. Kilpatrick. Page 110. Accessed 26 April 2023. Yet all received the same communion, and all were baptized in the same water without distinction. After the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

and the emancipation of the slaves, there was an impetus by both white and colored congregants to develop separate congregations. White judge Porter W. Carswell gave blacks nearby to build their own church; they named it in his honor. Over the next five decades, the church became the spiritual heart of the local black community. The original church was the first of seven black churches burned in the

Jenkins County, Georgia, riot of 1919 The Jenkins County riot of 1919 took place on Sunday, April 13, 1919, when a series of misunderstandings and out-of-control events spiralled into two white police officers being killed. In retaliation the local white community formed mobs and rav ...

.An excerpt from "Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America"
By Cameron McWhirter. Accessed 26 Apr 2023. It was replaced in 1919 by a wood-frame clapboarded building with

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

windows and other details.Carswell Grove Baptist Church
HRC Georgia. Accessed 26 April 2023. Its front gable end was flanked by two square towers. With . Before its destruction in 2014, the building was boarded up and had deteriorated; the congregation meets in a more modest and modern adjacent building built in 2008. The cemetery was founded around 1870, when the original church building was built. It is located along the rear and sides of the church, and includes "modest" headstones.

References

Further reading