History UnderfootAtlanta
  • Church
  • Early
  • founded April 23, 1824
  • Fulton County

Mt. Gilead Methodist Church (1824)

One of the first churches in what is now Fulton County, founded April 23, 1824, by Rev. John M. Smith (1789-1863), who is buried here.

See it on the map All Early records

The record

The GHS marker says the church was organized by Rev. William J. Parks, that many early settlers worshiped here, and that it has been rebuilt several times. In 1864 both armies used it as a hospital, a skirmish took place here on August 28, and Federal columns passed it on the way to Red Oak and Jonesboro. Members of the Mutual Rights faction who withdrew from Mt. Gilead founded Owl Rock Church, a few miles west, in 1828 (GHS).

Today: Mt. Gilead church grounds in southwest Atlanta/south Fulton.