Commonly called the Old Stone Church, this building began construction in the summer of 1850 after its members had met in an old log cabin from 1837 to 1845 and then at a one-mile-south site known as Dogwood Campground, where a forty-by-seventy-foot shed built in 1845 remained in use until 1850. The structure was built over two years from stone quarried from the Stubblefield Farm and from the base of White Oak Mountain, with timber procured from dense local forests, at a reported total cost of only $1600.00. Pews made for the Dogwood Campground building were moved into it, and during the War Between the States the benches were reportedly turned to face each other and used as fodder troughs for Union army horses, leaving tooth marks still visible. Although the official name Stone Church was not attained until 1912, military dispatches and field reports from the War Between the States era cite that name, and during that time Confederate and Union armies used the building as headquarters, a hospital, and a major point of reference. Apart from that era, it served only as a church until membership dwindled in 1920, after which it was sold to a Methodist group and then in 1923 to a group of individual citizens. The gospel hymn Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, with words by E.A. Hoffman and music by A.J. Showalter, was first performed here under the leadership of Ref. Mark Matthews, minister of the church. After being used only sporadically following the 1920's, it was acquired for restoration beginning in 1995 through efforts by the Catoosa County Historical Society, supported by the Catoosa County Government and the State of Georgia, with plans finalized by architect Ross Andrews and renovation completed by October 1997. Today the building houses a museum of artifacts from the War Between the States and other early periods.

Photo: Brandon Fletcher

Photo: David Tibbs

Photo: David Tibbs

Photo: David Tibbs