Damascus Methodist Church

The Damascus Church is of the Methodist denomination and was built in 1879. The beautiful painting in the interior of the building was completed by a journeyman painter. Journeymen painters would travel from town to town and would generally be hired to paint houses and stores. It was unusual for one to paint a church but we are thrilled to have an example of this infrequent occurrence. This decor was a rare luxury in the Protestant Deep South.

The Methodist Episcopal Church South was the most common branch of Methodism in this area during the mid-nineteenth century. This came about because of a split over the issue of slavery at the 1844 general conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They maintained this organization for a hundred years before reuniting with the Methodist Episcopal Church.