Liberty County Historical Society

This is a 19th century 15 gallon cast iron cauldron pot with handles. These pots were used for several activities.

When you see this type of pot what comes to mind for you?

On November 23rd, 2024, living historians will portray elements of Lt. Colonel John McIntosh’s 3rd Georgia Battalion who in November of 1778 were sent from the main force at Midway church to reinforce the garrison at Fort Morris. When the British demanded the surrender of the garrison, Colonel McIntosh responded: “We, Sir, are fighting the battle of America, and therefore disdain to remain in neuter till its fate is determined. As to surrendering the fort, receive this laconic reply, “COME AND TAKE IT.” For the first time in two hundred and forty-six years the historic march will be replicated. The column will depart Midway Church early and end at Historic Fort Morris State Park. All proceeds and funds raised will go to the Friends of Fort Morris for a cannon and other improvements. This event will be held in conjunction with “Come and Take It!” encampment and wreath ceremony. Visit our living historians at the park and learn about Fort Morris, Sunbury, and the American Revolution in Georgia. If you would like to donate to help please send your donation to Friends of Fort Morris, P.O. Box 1067, Midway, Georgia 31320. Your donation will help make our vision for Fort Morris a reality.

Take a listen to this reading of "The Religious Instruction of The Negroes, A Sermon-Part 1" by Liberty County planter, slave owner, and Presbyterian minister, Rev. Charles Colcock Jones. This is his (diabolical) interpretation and justification for using the Gospel of Jesus Christ to enslave Africans.

From the Desk of Hermina Glass-Hill
President
Liberty County Historical Society

The Religious Instruction Of The Negros -part 1 Rev.Charles Colcock Jones,sermon preached 1832...uploaded by;Dr.Stevie Lundy Jr...

The British Army.

Liberty County Historical Society. Where all histories of our County MATTER.

From the desk of Hermina Glass-Hill, MHP
President

The Liberty County Historical Society is honored to be the site of the Susie King Taylor Women's Institute's exhibit - Our Town. Our Geechee Heroine of Freedom. Our American Patriot of Liberty.

Last Saturday, August 6th, was the 174th birthday of Liberty County's native daughter - Susie Baker King Taylor. In 1862, she escaped slave from the Grest Plantation on Isle of Wight (in Midway, GA) while the Liberty Independent Troops were camped there during the Siege of Fort Pulaski. She and family members were rescued by the Union Navy at Saint Catherine's Island and taken to Saint Simon's Island. The rest is an incredible history!

Happy 174th Birthday, Susie King Taylor!

Posted by Hermina Glass-Hill, MHP
Susie King Taylor Scholar
President Liberty County Historical Society

The Liberty County Historical Society's website link has changed! It is now a .net link, instead of the previous .org link. Be sure to change your bookmarks, and if you haven't visited the site before, check it out! https://www.libertyhistory.net/

Liberty County Historical Society - LibertyHistory.net The Susie King Taylor Women's Institute and Ecology Center is devoted to honoring the memory of American Heroine of Freedom, Susannah "Susie" Baker King Taylor, also known as Susie King Taylor.

Liberty County Historical Society updated their website address.

Liberty County Historical Society in collaboration with the Susie King Taylor Women's Institute and Ecology Center is pleased to participate in Museum Sunday, February 6th.

Visit our exhibit titled

SUSIE KING TAYLOR
Our Town
Our Geechee Heroine of Freedom
Our American Patriot of Liberty

Join us on Museum Sunday, February 6, to learn more about Liberty County's native daughter- born enslaved but stole her freedom with her feet.

Location
100 S. Commerce St.
Hinesville, GA 31313

Times
12:00pm-1:00pm
2:00pm-3:00pm

Mask Required.

On behalf of the Executive Committee of the Liberty County Historical Society, we join all of you in offering our sincere condolences to the former president of this Society, Sarah Todd Hein, and her family as they mourn the passing of their love one Mr. Billy W. Gay.

From the desk of
Hermina Glass-Hill, MHP - President

Billy W. Gay Obituary (2021) Coastal Courier View Billy W. Gay's obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.

What a fascinating story! Watch the SCAD documentary about their life for free at: https://www.scadmoa.org/about/william-and-ellen-craft

Follow a Couple's Daring Escape From Slavery in the Antebellum South A new short film from SCAD chronicles the lives of Ellen and William Craft, who disguised themselves to find freedom in 1848

What does Susie King Taylor have to do with Midway Church?

Did she attend Midway Church?

How many ministers and members of Midway Church were slave owners?

How many enslaved humans attended or were admitted or baptized, or took communion in Midway Church?

To to learn more about Liberty County's native daughter Susie King Taylor, visit the Exhibition titled "Susie King Taylor: Our Town. Our Geechee Heroine of Freedom. Our American Patriot of Liberty" at the Liberty County Historical Society.

Hours of Operation Thursday-Friday
10:00am-2:00pm
101 S. Commerce Street
Hinesville, Georgia

DM us if you would like to visit.

It is great to see Liberty County's Geechee Heroine of Freedom -Susie King Taylor- so prominently represented in the St. Simons Land Trust's Guale Preserve trail! After escaping slavery in Liberty County, St. Simons Island is the place where she began teaching at a "contraband camp" around the age of fourteen.

Susie King Taylor and July 4, 1776 The 4th of July is one of most festive holidays in the country. From flags hung everywhere to picnics, parades, and fireworks, it is one of the holidays that most Americans look forward to celebrating and gathering with family and friends. Some folks know the meaning of it with the thirteen colonies...

Explore Georgia’s fight for Indepedence along the Liberty Heritage Trail Some of the most significant players in Georgia’s fight for freedom made their home in the Coastal Empire. You can learn more about them while traveling Georgia’s Historic Liberty Trail from Midway to Sunbury.

The Liberty County Historical Society in partnership with the Susie King Taylor Women's Institute and Ecology Center was honored to host a special tour of two of America's finest servicemen today at the Susie King Taylor Exhibition.🇺🇸

They were curious about Liberty County's "American Patriot of Liberty" Susie King Taylor story and the role that African American men played in the War Between the States a.k.a. the American Civil War.🇺🇸

During the Civil War, the United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American (colored) soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served within the units. There were 175 regiments with more than 178,000 men enlisted to United our country under one flag, the American Flag, and to liberate more than 4,000,000 humans enslaved of African descent enslaved on plantations in the American South.🇺🇸

SUSIE KING TAYLOR EXHIBITION
Our Town.
Our Geechee Heroine of Freedom.
Our American Patriot of Liberty.🇺🇸

Hours
10:00am-2:00pm
Thursday-Saturday
By Reservation Only
For reservations, email [email protected]🇺🇸

🇺🇸

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Our Histories. Our National

#1776

'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?': The History of Frederick Douglass' Searing Independence Day Oration "What the speech is saying is you must destroy first what you created and remake it, or it will be destroyed — and you with it"

What does Union Gen. Hugh Judson Kilpatrick
have to do with
Gloria Vanderbilt and Liberty County?

Prominent descendants of the Civil War general Hugh Judson Kilpatrick include the artist and socialite Gloria Vanderbilt (his granddaughter) and the television journalist Anderson Cooper (his great grandson).

Hugh Judson Kilpatrick (January 14, 1836 – December 4, 1881)

He was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, achieving the rank of brevet major general. He was later the United States Minister to Chile and an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Starting in May 1864, Kilpatrick rode in the Atlanta Campaign. On May 13, he was severely wounded in the thigh at the Battle of Resaca and his injuries kept him out of the field until late July. He had considerable success raiding behind Confederate lines, tearing up railroads, and at one point rode his division completely around the enemy positions in Atlanta. His division played a significant role in the Battle of Jonesborough on August 31, 1864.

Kilpatrick continued with Sherman through his March to the Sea to Savannah and north in the Carolinas Campaign. He delighted in destroying Southern property. Source: Wikipedia

"For the rest of the campaign, Kilpatrick stayed close to the infantry. Sherman’s columns arrived at Savannah, on the coast; by December 21 the port city was in Sherman’s hands. For the six weeks that the Federals stayed in Savannah, they respected private property. Not so Kilpatrick. Encamped to the south near Midway Church in Liberty County, he sent his men to ravage the countryside, foraging daily and visiting the same plantations again and again. ‘There was no use to put things in order,’ one owner stated. ‘Every separate gang ransacked the house afresh." Source: HistoryNet

The Historic Dorchester Center in Midway has just opened its new permanent exhibit "The Civil Rights Movement at Dorchester Center." Did you know that Midway is one of only three Georgia cities on the National Civil Rights Trail (with Atlanta and Albany), and Dorchester Center is on the National Register of Historic Places?

"Beginning in 1961, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Leadership Conference, agreed to a transfer of the "Citizenship Education Program" from the Highlander School in Monteagle, Tennesee to a location in Georgia. But where would the program be headquartered?

"Rev. Andrew Young, a young Congregational minister and member of SCLC's executive committee, advised Dr. King that there was an unused old run-down school associated with the Congregational Church in McIntosh, Liberty County, GA now owned by Black folks, Dorchester Improvement Association.

"For more than nine years, Dorchester Center was the heartbeat of the Civil Rights Movement."

~~~ Hermina Glass-Hill, MPH, designer/curator of the exhibit; executive director, Susie King Taylor Women's Institute and Ecology Center; president, Liberty County Historical Society.

The exhibit is open by appointment only. Call 912-442-0018 to make an appointment. Dorchester Academy is located at 8787 E. Oglethorpe Highway in Midway, and includes a fascinating African American Museum showing the history of the Liberty County African American community (also open by appointment only).

Martin Road at US 17,
Midway City Limits, 1930.
Midway Congregational Church, 1915.

https://www.32auctions.com/MidwayMuseum

Midway Museum Christmas Auction Silent auction 'Midway Museum Christmas Auction' hosted online at 32auctions.

Check out this article about the company that makes the markers we erect on our county. The markers are our way of helping to educate the public about the history of our wonderful county.

Made in Marietta: Bite-size History at Sewah Studios Prior to the depression, prisoners made historical markers out of iron. With the new interstate system, E.M. Hawes, the original owner of Sewah Studios, saw a need to have more signs made and in 1927 he formed his own company.