About thirteen miles by road from Bethesda Church (but much less as the crow flies) is the village of Penfield, founded about 1830. Mercer University began here in 1833 as Mercer Institute, founded by the Georgia Baptist Convention as a manual labor school and named in honor of Jesse Mercer, a leading Baptist minister of the day. It was renamed Mercer University in 1837.
Penfield was quite a growing and bustling place through the Civil War era and survived the years after the war, even though the Baptist Convention voted to move the university to Macon in 1871. The boll weevil ended the southern "Cotton Economy" around 1919 and Penfield fell into obscurity. The town's Historic District still includes a number of fine Victorian houses.
Penfield Baptist Church was erected by David Demorest in 1846 as the university chapel. The building is a striking example of Greek Revival architecture and looks remarkably contemporary even after more than 175 years.
When the university moved to Macon the chapel was given to the former congregation of Shiloh Baptist Church, which quickly occupied its new home and maintains an active ministry to this day.
(Adapted from my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia.)
Photo: Olympus OM-D E-M5, Panasonic Lumix G Vario 12-32mm lens.
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