The first Christian Church in Georgia was constituted at this site in 1837. Services were held early in the 1830's by Rev. George Lynch Smith, first under a brush arbor and later in the log schoolhouse. This building, then two-story, was erected in 1857 under the pastorate of Rev. Smith's son, Dr. Jubilee Smith, who remained pastor until 1895. Its second story was used by the Smith Lodge No. 233 Masons from its organization in 1858. The first officers were Dr. Smith, Jonathan Bridges, J.B. Oxford, Y.F. Wright, Jeptha Whorton, C.W. Matthews, T.M. Fain, and Berry Pike. Company I, 17th Georgia Infantry, was organized here on August 15, 1861, by Capt. Jubilee Smith and drilled nearby.