The ruins of Union Chapel, also known as Nesbitt Union Chapel, are situated on Powder Springs Street between Marietta and Powder Springs, in Marietta, Georgia. The original chapel consisted of a single room, with a stony façade and Gothic-style arched windows and door. The building had deteriorated significantly by the 1940s, becoming unsafe for use. By the early 21st Century only a corner of the original has remained standing."Preservation Priorities" Cobb Landmarks. http://www.cobblandmarks.com/preservation-priorities.html The Nesbitt/Union Chapel played a significant role in the religious, social, and agricultural history of Cobb County, in addition to its association with several of the County's prominent, early families. Currently, the Chapel ruins are barely visible from the road, obscured by trees and heavy underbrush. The ruins of the Nesbitt Union Chapel, constructed of rammed earth in the Gothic Revival style, are architecturally significant for the unusual material and a style uncommon in religious architecture in rural Georgia.Stanton, Phoebe. The Gothic Revival and American Church Architecture: An Episode in Taste, 1840-1856. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997).
As a center of worship, the Chapel is both unusual and significant in its inclusion of all denominations.Hill, Samuel. Religion in the Southern States: A Historical Study. (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1983) Its location three miles distant from Marietta seems trivial today, though undertaking that journey along dirt roads in a horse-drawn buggy would have been arduous even under ideal conditions. The Chapel allowed local families to worship close to home, regardless of their religious affiliation. Several Marietta congregations adopted the Chapel as a mission, rotating services for Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, and Presbyterian parishioners. The inter-denominational nature of the Chapel reflected its group of Trustees, which included Episcopalians (Irwin and Starnes), Presbyterians (Nesbitt), and Baptists (Ward).Trope, Betsy. "Friends of Nesbitt Union Chapel Historic Narrative Project." (Marietta, Georgia, 2016)
Land history The earliest reference to the property—2nd Section, 17th District, Land Lot 7—is in the 1832 Gold Lottery of Georgia, when it was deeded to William Alexander. A warranty deed recorded September 7, 1882, documents a transaction between Marietta Savings Bank and R.L., possibly Rebecca Lanier, Nesbitt (Cobb County Deed Book G, p. 203). The property was deeded by Robert T. and Rebecca Nesbitt to a group of five trustees in December 1886 (Cobb County Deed Book J, p. 24). Those trustees were James G. Hughes, Robert C. Irwin, Robert T. Nesbitt, Hugh N. Starnes, and John R. Ward.Trope, Betsy. "Friends of Nesbitt Union Chapel Historic Narrative Project." (Marietta, Georgia, 2016)
Legal history
The property legally remained in this trusteeship, as long as it was used for the purposes stated in the 1886 deed. Though the structure fell into disrepair, the trustees and local residents continued to meet and worship on the property, in an effort to hold to the original, legal document. Around 1972, the property appears in a Sheriff's Tax Deed. The tax exemption on the property had apparently been removed and taxes were reported as owed. It remains unclear how a local landowner gained control of the parcel, but property taxes were paid on the land until 2004.Trope, Betsy. "Friends of Nesbitt Union Chapel Historic Narrative Project." (Marietta, Georgia, 2016)
Chapel site returned to the public
Some local residents still gathered and worshipped on the site until the official formation of the Friends of Nesbitt Union Chapel (FUNC), a non-profit task force of the Cobb Land Trust, in 2002. At that time, small events and services were held on the site with the intention of honoring the provisos of the 1886 deed. The FNUC undertook a lengthy legal fight with the Clarkes to regain control of the property, spurred on by the demolition in 2004 of most of the remaining structure. In 2010, Cobb Superior Court named the Cobb County Commissioners as trustees of the property, which continues to be used for educational and worship purposes, primarily by the members of the FNUC. The organization hopes to expand these functions in the future, following a rehabilitation of the site by Cobb County.Cobb Land Trust, "Friends of Nesbitt Union Chapel" http://www.frogsncats.com/clt/html/nesbitt.htm
1886 chapel building
A wood-framed, pointed-arch door with marble lintel provided entrance to the building in the center of the north façade, facing Powder Springs Road. A lancet-arch vent with wooden louvers was centered above the door. The doorway was covered by a wooden porch, with shingled, shed roof, supported by slender wood posts and brackets. The stoop, approached by two steps, consisted of stone topped with wood planks. The wood steeple was centrally positioned along the ridgeline. Its shingled roof flared out at the corners and was supported by rounded arches on all four sides. The base of the steeple was clad in board and batten siding. The steeple contained a cast iron cupola bell manufactured by Thomas Kane and Company, of Chicago, Illinois. The bell remained in situ until the mid-twentieth century.
Four lancet-arch windows lined the east and west facades of the Chapel. The double-hung windows had marble sills and louvered, wooden shutters. On the south façade, two double-hung, lancet-arch windows flanked a semicircular apse protruding from the building.
The interior walls of the Chapel were covered with white plaster and the floor with wood planks. At the north end, a carved pulpit stood on a wood dais accessed by two steps at each end. A wood stove probably occupied the northeast corner of the building, based on the presence of a stovepipe in several photographs. Wood pews occupied the sanctuary and were donated to St. James Episcopal Church in Marietta following the deterioration of the Chapel.
Receipts and numerous personal accounts indicate that there was an organ in the sanctuary, purchased from the Estey Organ Company in downtown Atlanta, on May 12, 1881 (Fig. 12). Estey, based in Brattleboro, Vermont, was the primary manufacturer of reed organs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Reed organs were more portable than later pipe models, and therefore better suited to small churches like Nesbitt/Union.
No other extant structures remain on the property, though personal accounts and oral histories mention a school on the property. In A Woman's Place: 52 Women of Cobb County, Georgia, 1850-1981, Mary Anne Irwin refers to "the two to three rooms of the Old Union Chapel School," where she taught for over thirty years. It remains unclear whether the school was located in a separate building or classes were held in the Chapel. Another structure notably absent from the property is the privy, though personal accounts indicate it stood in the southeast corner of the property.Trope, Betsy. "Friends of Nesbitt Union Chapel Historic Narrative Project." (Marietta, Georgia, 2016).
Developmental history
Marietta and the surrounding area were settled and thriving well before the founding of Atlanta. Chartered by the state in 1834, the town was named for Mary Cobb, the wife of United States Senator Thomas W. Cobb, for whom the county was named. As was the case with so many early Georgia communities, the railroad was the catalyst for growth and development in Marietta. The Western & Atlantic line connected Marthasville—known today as Atlanta—with Marietta in 1845. Situated at over 1000 feet above sea level and blessed with abundant natural springs, Marietta provided a cool respite from the oppressive summer weather. Hotels, boarding houses, and restaurants sprang up near the railroad to accommodate seasonal visitors. The town quickly became a popular getaway location for wealthy planters from south and coastal Georgia.Temple, Sarah. The First Hundred Years: A Short History of Cobb County, in Georgia. (Atlanta: Foote & Davies, 1966).
The Nesbitt family
Some of these summer visitors chose to relocate permanently to Marietta, including Robert Taylor Nesbitt, a descendant of one of Georgia's most distinguished families. Nesbitt's mother, Martha Deloney Berrien Nesbitt Duncan (1820-1896), hailed from Savannah, where her father, Richard Berrien, was a prominent physician. He died in an 1820 yellow fever epidemic when Martha was still an infant. Though she never knew her father, she was well acquainted with her uncle, John McPherson Berrien. John Berrien was a United States Senator, renowned orator and jurist, and the namesake of Berrien County in south Georgia. Several accounts describe Martha as sharing her uncle's gifts for elocution and civic engagement.Temple, Sarah. The First Hundred Years: A Short History of Cobb County, in Georgia. (Atlanta: Foote & Davies, 1966).
Martha was related to another of the state's most prominent families through marriage. Her stepfather, General Robert Taylor, was one of Georgia's wealthiest planters, owning estates in Savannah and Morgan County, totaling over 17,000 acres at the time of his death. He built his summer home in Athens, a Greek Revival mansion known as the Taylor-Grady House, now designated as a National Historic Landmark. Martha married her first husband, Hugh O'Keefe Nesbitt, in this home in 1839. Like Martha Berrien's father, Hugh Nesbitt was a physician, though he gave up his practice to manage her considerable plantation holdings in Early County. The couple purchased a home from Judge David Irwin in Marietta in 1852, though Hugh Nesbitt died shortly thereafter. Martha remarried in 1861, to Dr. William Duncan of Savannah. Following his death in 1879, she split her time between the home of her granddaughter in Griffin and her son's Marietta estate, Farm Hill, where she became an influential figure in local social and civic circles.Temple, Sarah. The First Hundred Years: A Short History of Cobb County, in Georgia. (Atlanta: Foote & Davies, 1966)
Robert Taylor Nesbitt (1840-1913) assisted in the management of his family's plantations from an early age, taking on greater responsibility after his father died when he was fifteen. Following his service in the Confederate Army, Colonel Nesbitt married his fiancée, Rebecca Lanier Saffold (1845-1937) in Madison, in 1865. He continued to manage the family holdings in South Georgia until the lingering effects of a bout with diphtheria and the rigors of his military service took their toll. Records indicate that Nesbitt acquired his Marietta property, called Farm Hill, on December 30, 1881, settling there permanently for the benefit of his health. Robert Nesbitt served in the State Senate and as the State Commissioner of Agriculture from 1890 to 1900. He wrote a monthly column, "Mr. Nesbitt's Monthly Talk," in the Marietta Journal, focusing on different crops and agricultural issues. Nesbitt died in 1912, and was buried in the Episcopal Cemetery following a service in the Union Chapel. Rebecca, the daughter of Mary Harris Saffold and William Oliver Saffold, was born in Madison. After donating the land and Chapel to the trustees, Mrs. Nesbitt played the organ in the Chapel. She served as the first president of the Kennesaw Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy. She is also buried in the Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta.