Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church is located on Roberts Drive, where it meets Dunwoody Club Drive and Spalding Drive. The church is in Fulton County so it has a Sandy Springs address, however it was important to the early Dunwoody community.
After a few meetings in the homes of church members, a petition was submiited in 1829 to become a Primitive Baptist church. Diagonally across from where the church sits today a wood church building was constructed. The location would have been on the northwest corner of what is now Spalding Drive and Roberts Drive.
One story passed down about Ebenezer involves Union soldiers who were located along the Chattahoochee River in Roswell in July 1864. Anticipating the Union’s arrival, Confederate soldiers burned the bridge over the river in an attempt to slow the Union soldiers progress to Atlanta and Decatur. The story goes that Union soldiers used boards from Ebenezer Church to build a pontoon bridge across the river.
There have been four buildings in the history of Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church. The current brick building is built over the wood frame structure of the third one.
Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church followed the tradition of Sacred Harp Singing. Also known as Fa, Sol, La singing, no musical instrument were used to accompany the voice. The voice was believed to be the only musical instrument needed. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, singing schools were often held at local churches and schools. Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church sometimes hosted these events, as well as Sacred Harp Singing Festivals. A more recent pastor decided to discontinue Sacred Harp Singing at Ebenezer,
The first pastor of Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church was Reverend Radford Gunn. Some of the early members of the church included members of the Warnock, Ball, Jett, Martin, Holcombe, Burdette, Abernathy, Roberts, Jordan, Adams, Dalrymple, and Carpenter families. Many of these names can be seen today in the street names of Dunwoody and Sandy Springs.
Another early family at Ebenezer was the DeLongs. They owned 155 acres on both sides of Spalding Drive. In addition to being members of the church and active in Sacred Harp singing, some of the children attended school at Ebenezer School, located next door to the church. In an oral history recorded in 1994, Horace DeLong recalls teachers Daisy Copeland and Annie Drake. He also remembers watching the small schoolhouse burn many years later.
Ebenezer School, located next door to the church.
Other pastors through the years were L. M. Ball, Bartow Phillips, and Edward Cagle. I had the pleasure of meeting Elder Edward Cagle several years ago along with local Dunwoody historian Lynne Byrd. Edler Cagle shared some of the church history with us, as well as contributing a Sacred Harp Singing book for the Dunwoody Preservation Trust archives. Elder Cagle passed away in May of 2018.
A 1929 newspaper article titled “Old Ebenezer Begins its Second 100 Years” was written by Emory Waldrip. He describes the church as being located on the Shallowford Road, a name still used at that time because the road led to the “shallow ford” area of the Chattahoochee River. According to the article, one thousand people were in attendance for a morning and afternoon service, as well as a picnic luncheon. Reverend L. M. Ball, who was pastor from 1878 to 1908 told the crowd the history of the church. Others at the celebration included Jane Ball and Adilene Donaldson, who had been a member for seventy years.
Just as historic as the church is the cemetery, where many Dunwoody and Sandy Springs pioneers are laid to rest.
The setting of the church among large oaks with its picnic area on the side for “dinner on the grounds” brings back happy memories of a similar old church that I occasionally visited with my maternal grandparents.
Members of the DeLong family with Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church in the back ground.