Adairsville Baptist Church

Adairsville Baptist Church, first called “The OOTHCALOOGA Church,” actually came into being in 1835 in a small log cabin on the Moravian Oothcalooga Indian Mission property in what is now Gordon County. Two years later the mission was abandoned, the church building sold, and a log building to house the congregation was erected on a tract of land just north of Adairsville. This building was used as a meeting place until it was burned in 1864. From then until 1871 services were held in an old school house on the site of the present Adairsville Baptist Church. John W. Gray gave another Summer Street lot for a Union Church that year. On that tract of land, a refurbished barn was used by the Baptists as well as by other denominations for their once-a-month gatherings. By 1882 a meeting house had been built on the site of the present Oothcalooga Church. Meanwhile, a group of Baptists had formed the Adairsville Missionary Baptist Church, meeting in a town store building. Negotiations between these two Baptist groups resulted in their merger in 1885, and in their erecting a wood-frame church building in the town. On September 19th of that year the merger became official and the group took the name of the “Oothcalooga Baptist Church of Christ at Adairsville.” Fifteen members continued to use the old church building, however; they became known as the Oothcalooga Valley Baptist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Elrod deeded the property in 1892. That same year the “town” church shortened its name to Adairsville Baptist Church. Later, this “town” group needed a new building, and a brick structure was constructed in 1926. It was not actually dedicated until 1927. This building is still used as the Adairsville Baptist Church meeting place. It has been redecorated several times and an annex was added in 1976.