{"nrhp_refnum":"10000924","name":"Ochlocknee Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"521 US HWY 319 S","address_restricted":false,"city":"Beachton","county":"Grady County","state":"GA","lat":30.756993116000046,"lon":-84.09242259199993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2010-11-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rural Missionary Baptist church and adjoining cemetery on a 1.9-acre lot off U.S. Highway 319 near Beachton in Grady County, Georgia. The frame church was built in 1918, and the cemetery dates from the 1930s.","why_significant":"The church is significant in architecture as a simple example of early 20th-century rural African-American church design, with a steeple and vestibule added around 1947. It is also significant in black ethnic heritage as a social and civic center for the African-American community of southeastern Grady County. The cemetery is the burial place of influential church members.","narrative":"Ochlocknee Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery sit on a 1.9-acre lot among pine forest in rural Grady County, Georgia, about 12 miles southwest of Thomasville. The frame sanctuary, built in 1918 after fire destroyed the congregation's earlier church, is a plain rectangular building with weatherboard siding, a front-gabled metal roof and a small steeple. The steeple and vestibule were added around 1947, with the steeple donated by Pebble Hill Plantation owner Pansy Ireland Poe and carpentry by Thomasville contractor Forrest Monroe. The congregation traces its founding to 1848. The church served the local African-American community as a religious, educational and social center, and many members worked or studied at nearby Pebble Hill Plantation. A small cemetery to the south, in use since the 1930s, holds church pioneers, including members of the Hadley family. A 1970 fellowship hall and a 1980s baptismal pool are later additions that do not contribute to the property's historic character. The church and cemetery are still in use today.","period_of_significance":"1918-1960","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Church and cemetery remain in religious and funerary use; the exterior has excellent integrity, while the interior has been altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:42.883583-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/10000924.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000924/90b6d0cca6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000924/90b6d0cca6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"The Bushranger","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ochlocknee_Missionary_Baptist_Church.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">The Bushranger</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ochlocknee_Missionary_Baptist_Church.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"90000146","name":"Pebble Hill Plantation","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/pebble-hill-plantation-90000146/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93208464","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochlocknee_Missionary_Baptist_Church_and_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q29641615"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/grady-county/ochlocknee-missionary-baptist-church-and-cemetery-10000924/"}