GA -- Ringgold -- Old Stone Church:
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- RINGSC_061009_04.JPG: Trail of Tears:
In 1838, federal soldiers forced the Cherokee to march from Georgia to the Indian Territory. That area would later be known as Oklahoma.
Thousands died on the march, which began in the midst of a drought and continued into a harsh winter. This march would later be known as the Trail of Tears.
Many Cherokee and their families from our community were forced to leave their homes and join the march. They would have traveled along the old federal road which passed by this church.
This is a memorial to all of the lives that were lost on the Trail of Tears.
- RINGSC_061009_05.JPG: Memorial to the Trail of Tears
- RINGSC_061009_06.JPG: Stone Church: (Chickamauga Presbyterian Church):
This building, common called "The Old Stone Church", began construction in the summer of 1850. Its members met in an old log cabin located one-quarter mile south of the present structure from 1837 to 1845. A site was selected one mile south in 1945 and a shed measuring forty by seventy feet was constructed. Referred to as "Dogwood Campground," it was in use until 1850.
This structure is erected from stone quarried from the Stubblefield Farm and from the base of White Oak Mountain. Timber was procured from dense forests in the area. The total cost is said to be only $1600.00 and construction took two years.
The pews made for the "Dogwood Campground" building were moved here. During the War Between the States, it was reported that the benches were placed facing each other and used for fodder troughs for the Union Army's horses. These benches show evidence of indentations of the horses' teeth.
Officially, the name "Stone Church" was not attained until 1912. Military dispatches and field reports during the War Between the States era cite this name. During this time, the Confederate and Union armies used the building as headquarters, a hospital, and major point of reference.
Other than this era, the church has been used only as a church until 1920 when church membership dwindled and the church was sold to a Methodist group and in 1923 it was sold to a group of individual citizens. ...
Following the 1920s, the building was used sporadically until 1995 when the Catoosa County Historical Society took steps to acquire it for restoration. This effort was supported by the Catoosa County government and the State of Georgia. Plans were finalized by architect Ross Andrews, and a grant was procured. Society members and others began a thorough renovation, completed by October, 1997. The building, today, houses a museum of artifacts from the War Between the States and other early periods. The church and museum are open to the public of designated days and hours.
- RINGSC_061009_10.JPG: Old Stone Presbyterian Church: War time hospital:
This church, organized September 2, 1837, before the Cherokee Indians were removed from this area, was the first church organized by white settlers in the bounds of the present Catoosa County, according to available records. The organizers were a group of Scotch Irish Presbyterians from Tennessee or the Carolinas.... . This building, of sandstone quarried nearby, was erected in 1850 and following the Battle of Ringgold, November 27, 1863, was used as a hospital. Blood stains are still visible on the floor. It remained a Presbyterian church until about 1920 when it was sold to a Methodist congregation which maintained it for some years. It then passed into private hands and, to save it from destruction, a group of descendents of the early members raised a fund and purchased it, deeding it to a board of trustees to be used for religious purposes. In recent years, it has been used for various denominations. [1955 sign.]
- Description of Subject Matter: The Old Stone Church in Ringgold was organized in 1837. The present building was begun by the congregation in 1850 and completed by 1852. Members constructed the church with 21 inch sandstone walls from rock hauled by wagon from the nearby area. It is the oldest church structure in Catoosa County and was one of the first church bodies created in the newly opened territory (the land taken from the Cherokees after they were evicted) of the 1830s. Georgia, at that point, was 90 percent Baptist and Methodist so the Presbyterian church was rather unique. During the Civil War, it was used as a hospital by both sides. It is now owned by the Catoosa County Historical Society and deeded to the county with restrictions that it be used as a museum of local history to be coordinated by the Society.
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