Huntsville Methodist Church, Columbia County, FL (Jim Studnicki)

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Alternate Name(s): Huntsville Methodist Church Cemetery

Description: In 1854, W. H. Hunt (1812 - 1884) rode horseback from South Carolina to Columbia County and established a homestead approximately a quarter mile south of the present church site. Soon after he settled, he joined two other Methodist ministers in the area, and several settlers from the neighborhood, to build a "brush arbor" in which to worship until a church could be built. A pulpit was constructed of four light-wood knots as posts and floored with rough boards. Services were held at the brush arbor until a church was built on the site circa 1858, on land donated to the congregation by William W. Havird. The church was named Huntsville in honor of its founder and organizer, the Reverend W. H. Hunt. William W. Havird and the Reverend Hunt are buried in the church cemetery. The earliest marked grave is that of William O'Cain, buried in 1860. By 1879, Huntsville Methodist Church had 138 members. A new church was built on the site in 1891. For a time, the church was inactive, but is, once more, an active congregation. Pioneer settlers from this community buried at Huntsville Methodist Church Cemetery include members of the Bethea, Brinkley, Clements, Gibson, Havird, Hunt, Johnson, Moore, O'Cain, Parnell, and Simmons families, and there are seventeen known Confederate veterans buried here.

(Source: undated program from "Service for Confederate Memorial Day and Dedication of Confederate Marker, Colonel Walter Raleigh Moore" courtesy of Brenda Tillman.)

Civil War Florida Location ID: 575 |  Edit this Location | Revision History
Created by: CivilWarFlorida Administrator           on February 25th, 2004 9:24:01 PM EST