Just a couple of streets over from downtown Clarkesville stands Grace-Calvary Episcopal Church, a serene picture of faith that has withstood the tests of time.
The beautiful white church building looks relatively new, but in fact, it is the second oldest Episcopal Church building in Georgia as well as the oldest church building in North Georgia still in use.
HISTORY
According to the Grace-Calvary Episcopal Church website, the church was founded as Grace Protestant Episcopal Church in 1838. Grace Church would eventually join with Calvary Church in Cornelia in 1972, adopting the current name of the church.
Grace Church was born out of a couple of needs. One was for wealthy, coastal families to have a place to worship when they visited their summer homes in North Georgia. Many of these families would travel to Clarkesville to escape disease and hot weather during the summer months, then return home to their coastal plantations for the remainder of the year.
Another reason was so that the state of Georgia could have its own bishop. Before Grace Church, only five Episcopal churches existed throughout the state and they were overseen by the Bishop of South Carolina. By 1840, the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia was established and elected its first bishop in Clarkesville.
The actual Grace Church building was completed in 1842. The building is largely the same today - the windows have much of the same glass, the original pews are in place and the Henry Erben pipe organ is still played every Sunday.
While the congregation of Grace Church dwindled as the Civil War raged and the railroad came through the area, the church persevered. Some families, like the Kollock family, stayed active in the church.
The history of the church is a sense of pride for Nancy Kollock. The family of her late husband, John, played a significant role in keeping Grace Church alive at the turn of the 19th century.
“It’s just glorious to think that this church has been here all these years and the fact that it’s been in the community all this time,” said Kollock.
Kollock said that she has been a member at Grace-Calvary for more than 50 years, even before the two churches combined. She and her family would come to Clarkesville from Atlanta during the summer before she and her husband married.
Kollock can remember first coming to the church as a young wife when the congregation was much smaller.
“In fact, I felt like we were the only ones who had children in the church,” she said, chuckling.
Sadly, John Kollock passed away in 2014, but his legacy lives on in the church and community. He is best remembered for his watercolor paintings and is credited for the design of the Alpine Village in Helen.
At 92-years-old, Nancy Kollock is referred to by many at Grace-Calvary as the church matriarch. She said that she keeps coming to the church because it’s her “spiritual home."
“I love the church and I love the people in the church and I respect and honor its heritage,” she said.
MODERN TIMES
Keeping up with a church building that was constructed in the 1840s has proven to be quite a challenge for the members of Grace-Calvary, but somehow things always fall into place.
In 1951, Grace Church was chosen as the location for the MGM movie “I’d Climb the Highest Mountain." The studio painted and repaired the building, which helped with the survival of the historic structure.
However, by the 1970s the building was condemned. By this point, the two churches had decided to merge, so church leaders decided to sell the Calvary Church building to pay for the restoration of Grace Church. Pictures still exist of the church building held up by logging chains as the foundation was replaced.
About this same time, members of the newly-created Grace-Calvary set out to get more involved in the local community through outreach efforts. One of these was the Sharing and Caring thrift store in Clarkesville. Another was the Foothills Counseling Center. Each of these locations is now free-standing, although church members are still involved.
Reverend Sam Buice, who is the current rector of Grace-Calvary, said that the church members’ openness to the community and visitors is something that has always impressed him.
“The rare thing about Grace-Calvary that they are close like a family…usually the downside of a parish being close like a family is they’re kind of closed off to new people coming in,” said Buice. “One of the differences between this parish and others I’ve seen is that they’re close like a family, but also very welcoming of new members of the family.”
FOND MEMORIES
Kollock and Buice agree that the spirit of Grace-Calvary Episcopal Church is what brings people to the church and then keeps them coming back.
“The spirit is there in the church and it continues, it continues to be there,” said Kollock.
“All the prayers of the people over the years have been absorbed into the walls and still emanate from there…it’s really remarkable,” said Buice. “You do feel like you’re a part of something that’s been around for a long time.”
Kollock and Buice each shared some of their fondest memories of Grace-Calvary, as well. For Kollock, it’s decades of special services, like red blooms for Pentecost and Easter sunrise services, that mean the most.
“I think that the church has not only been a spiritual leader but also just a happy place for the people that go here,” she said.
While Buice has not been involved in Grace-Calvary as long as Kollock has, he did share that he first got involved with the church in the 1980s while in seminary. He said it was his goal to eventually take on a church like Grace-Calvary and he did just that in 2015.
“I’m now two or three months away from retirement and I’ve been up here for about five years…to end up at this church that’s kind of had a thread through all of my adult life, it’s just been a consistent thing that I’ve come back to,” said Buice.
Grace-Calvary Episcopal Church is still observing restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A Sunday indoor worship service at 8:30 a.m. is limited to 24 guests and an outdoor service at 11 a.m. is limited to 75 guests. Both services require a reservation. More information is on the Grace-Calvary website.
