Old Rock House and Wrightsboro Church, Thomson, Georgia

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled by.”

Robert Frost

What a lost treasure we found when we discovered the Wrightsboro Church and Community. I must thank my lovely neighbor for this tip as it was a neat place to explore. Thanks Sandy, you're the best. This town is the second oldest city in Georgia and was originally a Quaker settlement in the year of 1768. This was the farthest south the Quakers went to settle and it remained a village till the 1920's. Now there is little that remains from that time except the church and cemetery. The plain white church sits on a hill overlooking the site that in 1754, Edmund Grey founded. He wasn't even a Quaker but pretended he was. By 1805, the Quakers had all left and the Friends Meeting House was lost in a fire.

The replacement church was built between 1810 and 1812. There are wide steps leading up to two entrance doors to the church which were locked the day we were there. The doors opened just enough to see inside to get a great picture of what it looked like inside. The church became a Methodist church in 1837 and is now called the Wrightsboro Methodist Church. Surrounding the church was an old graveyard with burial sites dating back as far as 1800 that we strolled around. There are veterans buried here from from the Revolutionary War, Gettysburg, Shiloh, and Fredericksburg during the Civil War. We enjoyed walking around the church and looking at the graves in this serene location. Some of the graves were in pretty bad shape. Prayers up for those lost.

Across the street is a reconstructed cabin from 1840 and an old general store with no date but was stabilized in 1976. They were both locked up but fascinating still to see.

Our next stop was the Old Rock House in Thomson and was built in 1785 by Thomas Ansley and a possible ancestor of Jimmy Carter. This was a very interesting house even though it hasn't been maintained. The property is very pretty and captivating. There is a large walk in fireplace in the downstairs of the home, a parlor, bedroom and a large room upstairs. Also on the property was another building that had an outside fireplace and table. The property is very pretty and we are hoping someone steps up and will preserve it. This is the only surviving home from the Colonial Wrightsboro Settlement from 1768 and is the oldest stone house in Georgia. It was built of granite

and the roof has cypress shingles. The architecture is very similar to the Delaware Valley Homes in NJ which is where the builder was originally from. The house is now owned by the Quaker Community Foundation Inc and they restored the house in 1981. This home stayed in continual use till the 1930's. There are rumors this house is haunted maybe by Thomas Ansley. Who knows, it could be. This is worth a visit