Since 1786 Liberty Chapel now Liberty United Methodist Church

It All Started in 1786 shortly after the close of the American Revolution. There were only nine churches in the Georgia backcountry – three Lutheran, two Presbyterian, one Congregationalist, three Baptist, and no Methodist. In 1786, two young Methodist ministers, Thomas Humphries and John Major, came to Georgia to organize the first Methodist Circuits. Among the early converts of Humphries and Major was John Bush and, with the help of others, he erected a 'brush arbor' at what was then called "Crackers Neck" as a community center for camp meeting. From this grew Liberty Chapel, "Cradle of Methodism" for this section. In 1797, Rev. James Jenkins, leader in the early day of Methodism and, at that time, on the Washington Circuit including Greene, Taliaferro, Wilkes, Lincoln, Elbert, Hart, Franklin, Madison, and Oglethorpe Counties, preached here and report in his "Journal" that, after a "fiery exhortation," a man in uniform came down the aisle and fell at his feet, crying for pardon. Others followed and, according to Rev. Jenkins, then, at Liberty Chapel, began the Methodist custom of "going to the altar." The meeting became so noisy, he continued, that it was a wonder the horses did not take fright.

Most of the great men of early Methodism were identified with this church. Bishop Francis Asbury preached here several times and, in 1808 when the South Carolina Conference met here, he and Bishop William McKendree attended. At Liberty Chapel, Rev. Lovick Pierce was ordained an elder and Bishop William Capers. Great Revivals Were Held and out of great revivals grew a Methodist church called 'Liberty Chapel.' Organized in Greene County, Liberty Chapel was one of the first, if not the first, Methodist Church in Georgia. The name Liberty was likely derived from the fact that so many of the early settlers in the area were veterans of the American Revolution and members of the "Sons of Liberty". Liberty Chapel became the community center for periodic camp meetings and conferences where people came from miles round to have a week of worship and fellowship.

At the End of the 19th Century the congregation felt that a new church building was needed so construction began in 1900. Sam P. Turner, the church treasurer at the time, did not believe in "going into debt". With this principle in mind, construction began in pieces. When funds were available work would be done. When funds ran out work stopped. This "pay as you go" method delayed construction; but when the job was completed in 1903, the church building which still stands today was debt-free.

Burials here since 1786.