Providence Methodist Church, circa 1859 in rural Stewart County, Ga., has always caught the attention of VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown. It’s a fascinating church, he said here, that is located in western Georgia on the Alabama line in the small county — population 5,803 in 2013.
“On my last visit, however, I was appalled at the horrible condition of the cemetery,” he wrote after this 2011 photo.. “This is on state park land (or at least accessible only via state park road at which an entrance fee is collected) and an absolute disgrace to the department. I realize budget cuts have been a constant source of despair, but surely a friends group or volunteer organization could assist with its cleanup. It’s one of the oldest cemeteries in this section of the state, and if the government is going to oversee and promote the [Providence] canyon as a tourist attraction, it should have some respect for the pioneer citizens who rest permanently on its grounds.”
The county, where about 30 percent of those who are under 18 live in poverty, has lost population since 2010 and is about at its 1980 level in population. In its agricultural peak in 1900, almost 16,000 people lived in Stewart County.
Copyrighted photo by Brian Brown, 2011. All rights reserved.