Big Meeting at Rome Primitive Baptist Church

The dominant religious group of the South Georgia frontier was Primitive Baptists, most of whom traced their religious and ethnic roots to the British Isles. Their simple wooden meeting houses became a focal point for the religious and cultural life of many small rural communities. One of the highlight of the church year was the annual or Big Meeting. Despite dwindling memberships, Big Meeting today remains the setting for some of the nation’s oldest forms of hymn singing and for good downhome South Georgia cooking. Special thanks to the Alabaha River Primitive Baptist Association, Clarke and Tollie Lee, and John Crowley. The Sounds of South Georgia is made possible with support from Valdosta State University, and from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

Caption: Rome Primitive Baptist Church, Dixie Union, 2004.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers