Mayson Chapel Baptist Church is on Mayson Avenue near Plasters Avenue in the Armour-Ottley Industrial District.
It sits atop the tallest hill. If it had a steeple it would be a landmark. Instead, it's unremarkable, nearly invisible, until you look. I've been fascinated by the Mayson Chapel for years. It's so out of place but still active.
It alone remains from a prior era, alone among acres and acres of warehouses, parking lots, and railroad tracks.
It could use some scraping but it's clean and well kept. Inside, it's ready for the next service.
How many baptisms, weddings and funerals took place here in the last 87 years?
It's pretty old, organized in 1909. The first cornerstone is from 1924.
The second is from 1949, a few years before the industrial park. The community in this area must have been thriving and confident.
In fact it was part of Benjamin Plaster Plantation. Slaves farmed cotton here and in Peachtree Hills. The Plaster home was across the creek just north of ADAC, probably visible from here in it's day.
Here we are looking north towards the Buckhead skyline, across the bottom lands of Peachtree Creek.
This certainly remained farmland even as the city grew around it. There must have been a thriving community at one time. For you Atlantans: imagine farmlands where Sweetwater, Mason Murer, and Classic Design Services now stand.
The church is the only thing that remains from that time.
This is from the top floor of the parking lot at City Center, looking south from near Piedmont at Lindbergh, the ADAC is just visible on the right.
From nearly a mile away, zoomed to the max, it's obviously a church, standing proud but reserved.
How did I find this to begin with when you have to go this way to get there?
If you live in town and want to take you children to "watch the trains," this is where you go.
Why "Plasters Avenue?" It joins the few blocks of Plaster's Bridge Road that still exist. Plaster's Bridge crossed Peachtree Creek just south of the current bridge on Piedmont Road.
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It is interesting (although, in my opinion, unfortunate) that the classical massing was given a 1949 modern makeover. Clearly the congregation was looking forward to a brighter and more forward-thinking Atlanta after WWII. I am glad to see it is still a place of worship.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. I usually make it over to this area when I'm in town as we do a lot of fabrication/upholstery work with Tecnosedia which is next to Mason Murer. I've never noticed this building but will look for it the next time I'm over that way.
ReplyDeleteDoug, you take the first left (south) on Plasters between the new apartments and I-85, just a few blocks. Otherwise you'd never notice. Can't really see it from Armour Circle.
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