Visit Liberty County

Formal education of blacks started with the Freedmen’s Bureau in Liberty County. The Homestead School was continued with the aid of the American Missionary Association (AMA) and support of Reconstruction legislator William A. Golding.

The AMA started with one acre of land and 77 students in 1870. In 1874, the Reverend Floyd Snelson succeeded Golding at the school. The AMA and Snelson built a new school and named it Dorchester Academy in honor of its Puritan lineage. In 1890, Dorchester Academy started a boarding school. By 1917, the school had eight frame buildings on 103 acres, 300 students, and become a fully accredited high school.

The academic program ceased in 1940, with the construction of a consolidated public school for black youth at Riceboro. All academic equipment plus $8,000 were transferred toward that consolidation. Since, then facilities have served the community under the title Dorchester Cooperative Center, Inc. AMA continues financial support.

Erected 1983 by Georgia Historic Marker. (Marker Number 089-26)

Marker Series. This marker is included in the Georgia Historical Society/Commission marker series.

http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=15511

A recently restored 1938 schoolhouse conveniently located off of I-95 in Liberty County Georgia. Available for rental occasions such as banquets, weddings and/or receptions, family reunions, business and club meetings, birthday parties, conferences and various other events. Containing over 7,400 square feet, featuring an auditorium, 5 classrooms, a full kitchen and an outdoor pavilion.

You can rent one room or the whole building depending on your needs. Call 912.884.3342.

The newest addition to Dorchester Village is a restored one room school that was relocated from nearby Dorchester Church.

https://www.facebook.com/DorchesterVillageCivicCenter

1804 Islands Hwy
Midway, GA, 31320
(912) 884-3342

Liberty County, an original county, was created by the Constitution of Feb. 5, 1777 from Creek Cession of May 20, 1733. It had been organized in 1758 as the Parishes of St. John, St. Andrew and St. James. The theatre of many important events during the Revolution, Liberty County was named for American Independence. From it all of Long and McIntosh Counties were formed. Samuel Morecock was commissioned Sheriff in 1778. Wm. Barnard became Surveyor, Feb. 17, 1782. Francis Coddington in 1785 was made Clerk of Inf. and Sup. Courts of Liberty, Glynn and Camden Counties. John Lawson was sworn in as Coroner in 1790.
Liberty County* click for more information

The year 1837 marked the founding of Hinesville and the establishment of the Hinesville Methodist Church. For one hundred years this was the only church in HInesville. The first services were held in a small frame building near the Bradwell Institute on Courthouse Square. A larger structure was later erected and used until 1942 when the church built a new edifice at the corner of main Street and Memorial Drive. In 1985 a new building was completed.

The first recorded trustees of the church were Edward Way, E.O. Andrews, John Wells, Thomas Sheppard and David Zoucks.

In 1987 the congregation celebrated one hundred and fifty years of doing the Lord’s work in Hinesville.
Hinesville Methodist Church * click for more information

Returning from the Revolution, the soldiers of Liberty County re-organized themselves into a troop of cavalry, known as the Liberty Dragoons, later the Liberty Independent Troop, the oldest cavalry company in Georgia. In continuous existence since that time, this military company has participated in every war in which this country has been engaged since the Revolution. As late as 1916 the troop served as a cavalry company on the Mexican Border.

When the company went to France in World War I, it was converted to Company B, 106th Field Signal Battalion. In World War II, it became Battery B, 101st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Gun Battalion and took part in the campaign in New Guinea. During the Korean conflict the battery served at Camp Stewart, Ga., and at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin.

At this armory site have taken place some of the most brilliant and colorful tournaments and parades of the Old South.
Liberty Armory Site * click for more information

One of the first houses built in Hinesville after the town was established and became the county seat of Liberty County in 1837 was that of Charlton Hines, a state senator and for whom the town was named. This house, considerably altered, was built in 1837 on town lot number 33, which faced the Court House. Hines paid sixty-one dollars for this lot.

After Hines’ death the house was occupied by his son and was later used as the Hines Hotel. In 1941 the house was moved from its location on Main (originally Market) Street to its present location and converted into apartments. Later it was completely remodeled and used as offices.

The house originally was much larger than it now is and had a piazza across the front. Only the central part of the original house is still standing. An interesting feature of the 1837 interior was a ceiling medallion in the parlor.
Charlton Hines House * click for more information

The Bacon-Fraser House was built on a 23 acre tract situated on the eastern boundary of the town of Hinesville in 1839 by Mary Jane Bacon, widow of Major John Bacon. The house has been owned and lived in by their heirs until the present time.

The architecture is ‘plantation plain style’ and its workmanship reflects the work of the best craftsmen of the day. The front and two-story section remains virtually unchanged. However, the two shed rooms and kitchen to the rear were removed and additional rooms added in 1923. The 1923 section was removed in 1979-1980 and replaced by shed rooms, porch, dining room and kitchen on the original foundation in the architectural style and interior design of the 1839 era.

A detachment of Sherman’s army assaulted the plantation in December in 1864, pillaging, looting and burning. The house was spared the torch, but the barn and all outbuildings were burned by the Northern troops.

The Bacon-Fraser House * click for more information

The town of Hinesville was established in 1837 and shortly thereafter, in 1841, the Hinesville Institute (or Academy) was established with Colonel James Sharpe Bradwell as its first headmaster. The first building was erected at a cost of $349.12 1/2 and stood on the Courthouse Square where Bradwell Park is now located.

Hinesville Institute was closed during the War Between the States, but was reorganized and reopened in 1871 by Captain Samuel Dowse Bradwell, C.S.A., son of James Sharpe Bradwell. The name Bradwell Institute was given the reorganized school honoring Colonel Bradwell, the first headmaster of the Hinesville Institute.

Bradwell Institute was at first a boarding school and college preparatory, offering courses in Latin, Greek, chemistry, and “other useful and practical sciences.” At the turn of the twentieth century the school became a part of the public school system and was for many years the only high school in this section of Georgia, drawing students from surrounding counties.

Bradwell Institute * click for more information