Historic Woolsey CHURCH
Friends of Historic Woolsey, Inc. commissioned Landmark Preservation Consulting, LLC (LPC) to conduct investigative removals and a modified Historic Structure Report for Historic Woolsey Church in Woolsey, Georgia. The purpose of this report was to document the church’s history, current condition, as-built architectural drawings, identify building deficiencies and to make recommendations for future treatment of the church. The recommendations of the report focus on restoring the church to our determined period of significance, 1889-1952, and provide rehabilitation recommendations to the adjoining hyphen and annex.Those recommendations are followed by a prioritization plan, budgets for the restoration and rehabilitation, and future maintenance. Grant funding opportunities have also been provided.
The Woolsey Baptist Church, originally named Harmony Grove Missionary Baptist Church, was first organized in August 1888 by twenty-three members of the Antioch Baptist Church that decided to leave the Antioch congregation. Among this group of congregants was Antioch minister, Dr. I. G. Woolsey. In addition to donating land for Woolseyville’s train depot, post office, school, and Masonic Lodge, Dr. Woolsey donated land for the construction of a permanent church upon the condition that it was used for church purposes, but if it ceased to be used as a church, it reverted to his heirs. A building committee, appointed on October 6, 1888, oversaw the building of the church, which was originally 36’ x 50’.9 The church members held a dedication service on March 3, 1889. Dr. Woolsey served as the minister of Harmony Grove Missionary Baptist Church for eight years. By an act of the Georgia State Legislature, the town of Woolsey, previously named Woolseyville, was incorporated on December 16, 1893. Dr. Woolsey continued to serve his community until his health failed, and he died of heart failure on Sept. 11, 1902. Two years after his death, the church was renamed in his honor to Woolsey Baptist Church.
