Van Wert Methodist Church and Cemetery

Rockmart, Georgia

Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors — approximate location, not a photo of the site

Van Wert Methodist Church, listed by Georgia tourism as the Historic Van Wert Methodist Church, stands at the old Van Wert townsite near Rockmart in Polk County. Van Wert was platted in 1837 and served as the seat of Paulding County until 1851, when Polk County was formed, and it is now a ghost town. The church dates to the 1840s or 1850s, since sources give both 1846 and 1857, and was shared by Baptist and Methodist congregations until 1850. The evangelist Sam P. Jones, who later preached to an estimated three million people across America, got his start there in 1872. The churchyard holds graves of Welsh slate miners with Welsh-language epitaphs, and visitors report spectral figures and the feeling of being watched in the wooded area around the graveyard.

Reported activity

Visiting info

The cemetery can be visited in daylight; the church is usually closed while the Euharlee Valley Historic Society works on its renovation. It is listed under Rockmart, though the church sits on the old Van Wert townsite. Treat the graves with respect.