Union Chapel, Marietta, Georgia facts for kids
The Union Chapel ruins, also known as Nesbitt Union Chapel, are found in Marietta, Georgia. They are on Powder Springs Street, between Marietta and Powder Springs. The original chapel was a single room with stone walls. It had Gothic-style arched windows and a door.
By the 1940s, the building was falling apart and not safe to use. Today, only a small part of the original chapel still stands. Trees and bushes hide the ruins from the road. The Nesbitt/Union Chapel was very important to the religious, social, and farming history of Cobb County. It was also connected to some of the county's first important families.
The chapel ruins are special because they were built using rammed earth. This is an unusual material for a church in rural Georgia. Its Gothic Revival style is also uncommon for religious buildings in the area.
This chapel was unique because it welcomed people from all Christian religions. Even though it was three miles from Marietta, families could worship close to home. Traveling that distance on dirt roads by horse and buggy was hard back then. Many Marietta churches used the chapel for services. Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, and Presbyterian groups all held services there. The chapel's leaders, called Trustees, also came from different faiths.
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How the Chapel Land Was Used
The land where the chapel stands was first given to William Alexander in 1832. This happened during the 1832 Gold Lottery of Georgia. Later, in 1882, the land was sold to R.L. Nesbitt, possibly Rebecca Lanier Nesbitt.
In December 1886, Robert T. and Rebecca Nesbitt gave the property to five trustees. These trustees were James G. Hughes, Robert C. Irwin, Robert T. Nesbitt, Hugh N. Starnes, and John R. Ward.
The Chapel Land Returns to the Public
Even as the chapel fell apart, local people still met and worshipped there. They wanted to keep the original agreement from 1886. Around 1972, the property faced a problem with taxes. It seemed the tax exemption was removed, and taxes were owed.
In 2002, a group called the Friends of Nesbitt Union Chapel (FUNC) was formed. This group is part of the Cobb Land Trust. They held small events and services at the site. Their goal was to honor the 1886 agreement.
In 2004, most of the remaining chapel structure was torn down. This made the FNUC fight even harder to get the property back. After a long legal battle, the Cobb Superior Court made the Cobb County Commissioners the trustees of the property in 2010. Today, the land is still used for education and worship, mainly by FNUC members. The organization hopes to fix up the site in the future.
What the 1886 Chapel Looked Like
The chapel had a wooden, pointed-arch door in the middle of its front side. This door faced Powder Springs Road. Above the door was a vent with wooden slats. A wooden porch covered the doorway. It had a shingled roof and was held up by thin wooden posts. Stone steps led up to the porch.
A wooden steeple stood in the center of the roof. Its shingled roof curved out at the corners. The steeple had rounded arches on all four sides. Inside the steeple was a cast iron bell. This bell was made by Thomas Kane and Company in Chicago. It stayed in the steeple until the mid-1900s.
Four tall, narrow windows were on both the east and west sides of the chapel. These windows had marble sills and wooden shutters. On the back side, two similar windows were on either side of a round section that stuck out from the building.
Inside, the chapel walls were covered with white plaster. The floor was made of wood planks. At the front, a carved pulpit stood on a raised platform. A wood stove was likely in the northeast corner. Wooden pews filled the main worship area. These pews were later given to St. James Episcopal Church in Marietta when the chapel became too damaged.
Records show that an organ was bought for the chapel in 1881. It came from the Estey Organ Company in Atlanta. Estey was a main maker of reed organs back then. Reed organs were easier to move than larger pipe organs. This made them perfect for smaller churches like Nesbitt/Union Chapel.
People also remember a school on the property. Mary Anne Irwin, a teacher, said she taught in "the two to three rooms of the Old Union Chapel School" for over thirty years. It's not clear if the school was a separate building or if classes were held inside the chapel.
Marietta's Early Days
Marietta was a busy town long before Atlanta was founded. It was officially started in 1834. The town was named after Mary Cobb, whose husband, Thomas W. Cobb, gave his name to the county.
The railroad helped Marietta grow a lot. The Western & Atlantic line connected Marietta with Marthasville (now Atlanta) in 1845. Marietta was a popular summer spot because it was high up and had many natural springs. Wealthy plantation owners from southern Georgia came to escape the heat. Hotels and restaurants opened to welcome these visitors.
The Nesbitt Family's Role
Some summer visitors decided to stay in Marietta. One was Robert Taylor Nesbitt, from a well-known Georgia family. His mother, Martha Deloney Berrien Nesbitt Duncan, was from Savannah. Her uncle, John McPherson Berrien, was a famous senator and judge.
Martha married Hugh O'Keefe Nesbitt in 1839. He was a doctor but later managed her large farms. In 1852, they bought a home in Marietta. Robert Taylor Nesbitt (1840-1913) helped manage the family farms from a young age. After serving in the Confederate Army, he married Rebecca Lanier Saffold (1845-1937) in 1865.
Robert Nesbitt moved to Marietta permanently in 1881 for his health. He bought a property called Farm Hill. He served in the State Senate and was the State Commissioner of Agriculture from 1890 to 1900. He wrote a monthly column about farming in the Marietta Journal. Robert Nesbitt died in 1912 and was buried after a service at Union Chapel.
Rebecca Nesbitt played the organ in the chapel after she and Robert donated the land. She was also the first president of the Kennesaw Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy. She is buried in the Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta.
The Nesbitts knew another important Marietta family, the Irwins. Judge David Irwin (1807-1885) was a self-taught lawyer. He moved to Marietta in 1835 and became a judge. He helped create a set of laws for Georgia, published in 1861.
The Chapel's Official Start
These two important Cobb County families, the Nesbitts and Irwins, came together in 1886. This was when the Union Chapel was officially created. A document from December 20, 1886, shows that Robert T. and Rebecca Nesbitt gave one acre of land and the chapel building to five trustees.
The deed stated that the chapel was "to be used as a place of worship for all Christian denominations, for skools [sic] and agricultural societies and for no other purposes." This means it was for church services, schools, and farming groups. The deed also mentioned "the building known as Union Chappel [sic]," which shows a chapel was already there before 1886.
The First Chapel Trustees
The chapel trustees were important people in the community. Robert Cessne Irwin (1843-1921) was Judge David Irwin's son. He fought in the Civil War and later became a lawyer for Cobb County. His funeral service was held at Union Chapel.
Hugh O'Keefe Nesbitt Starnes (1856-1926) was born in Augusta, Georgia. He studied agriculture at the University of Georgia. He married Lucie Berrien McIntosh, who was Robert Taylor Nesbitt's niece. Hugh Starnes later worked for the Atlanta Constitution newspaper and became a horticulturist (a plant expert) at the State Experiment Station in Griffin. He also taught at the University of Georgia.
A Fire and Rebuilding
Stories say that the first chapel was a wooden building that burned down. Newspaper articles from 1886 in the Marietta Journal support this. They talk about efforts to raise money to rebuild the chapel. An article from October 1886 said, "strange to say, at the beginning of this year, the chapel was once more destroyed by fire." The article praised the women of the church for their fundraising. A publisher named George W. Childs also donated a "beautiful large Bible" for the chapel.
If a chapel burned down, it means Union Chapel existed before its official start in 1886. The 1886 deed likely just made the chapel's purpose and its leaders' roles official. The trustees and their families were already involved with the chapel. For example, fundraising events for rebuilding were held at Hugh N. Starnes' home in 1886. His wife and Rebecca Nesbitt helped organize these events.
Chapel and Community Life
Newspapers and church records show that the chapel held regular services. Pastors from all over the country led these services. Weddings, funerals, and baptisms also took place there. Revivals, ice cream socials, and community gatherings were held on the grounds for many years. Some important members and trustees during this time were descendants of the chapel's founders.
Mary Anne Irwin (1875-1963) was Judge David Irwin's granddaughter. She taught at Union Chapel for over thirty years. She also wrote a social column about the Union Chapel community for the Marietta Journal. In her later years, she was known as the "Guardian" of the Union Chapel. She worked to fix the building and keep it in use. An article from 1954 told how she saved the chapel bell and asked the community for help to restore the building.
Farming and the Chapel
The chapel was a place for learning about farming even before the 1886 deed mentioned agricultural societies. In 1885, the Marietta Journal mentioned "the grounds of the Phoenix Club, at Union Chapel." The Phoenix Club was started by Marietta farmers in 1883. It met at Union Chapel. The club's name came from the idea that the chapel was built "over the ashes of an antebellum structure."
Groups like the Phoenix Club were important in rural areas in the late 1800s. They were part of a national movement to improve farming. The first farming society in America started in 1785. It encouraged new ways of planting and raising animals. The first farming fair was held in 1811, offering prizes for the best animals and crops. The first farming journal, The American Farmer, began in 1819. These events showed how new scientific ideas from the Enlightenment were changing farming.
Farming was the main way people made a living in the southern United States, including Georgia. Growing a lot of cotton without other crops made the soil poor. Farmers looked for scientific solutions to improve their land. The first farming society in Georgia started in Hancock County in 1837. The Southern Cultivator journal began in 1843. This farming reform movement relied on farmers, scientists, and publishers sharing information.
Many of the chapel's founders were involved in farming. Martha Berrien Nesbitt Duncan owned huge amounts of farmland. Her husband and son, Robert Taylor Nesbitt, managed these farms. Robert Nesbitt later became the State Commissioner of Agriculture. He wrote a monthly column about farming. Another trustee, Hugh O'Keefe Nesbitt Starnes, had a degree in agriculture from the University of Georgia. He became a plant expert and taught at the university.
Hugh Starnes was a great example of the farming societies and reforms of the late 1800s. The study of agriculture was new at the University of Georgia. Starnes was one of the first students to get a degree in it. The university later started the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. It also opened the Georgia Experiment Station in Griffin to study soil and fertilizers. Hugh Starnes worked closely with both.
In 1886, there were twelve farming clubs in Cobb County. The Nesbitt/Union Chapel was where "the most intelligent farmers of Cobb county assembled." The chapel's deed, which included agricultural societies, shows how important farming education was to the original trustees.
