Rich History Depicted in Painting

Henry Wood spent more than two years creating the painting that is now on display in the lobby of .

The painting, a rendition of what the Pleasant Hill Methodist Church might have looked like in 1837, required extensive research of the church's history and out-of-state historic sites in an attempt to accurately portray the frontier house of worship.

Despite the effort involved, Wood said he had a good time working on the painting.

“I thoroughly enjoyed it,” he said.

Wood said he became interested in the project after realizing there was no information about the 1837 predecessor of the Dacula United Methodist Church in the church archives. Wood said he enlisted the help of the Gwinnett County Historical Society to begin his research.

“We did a bunch of research and found a few little tidbits of information,” he said.

That information led him to other sources until finally he had enough to begin painting.

According to Wood, the 1837 church was located near the Pleasant Hill Community Cemetery in Dacula. Though some records indicated the church was located on Fence Road, Wood said the actual location was off a road named Old Wagon Road, an old dirt road also known as the Old Athens Road.

“It has since been moved over to the middle of Dacula. I think it’s called U.S. 29 now,” Wood joked.

Wood said only 300 feet of the Old Wagon Road remains today.

“I had both verbal and archival research and information that told me generally what the church looked like, but, over a period of time, I was able to get all these facts together enough that I felt comfortable doing the final watercolor painting of it,” Wood said.

Every detail of the painting, including the choice to depict the church in the fall, was carefully considered. Wood researched sites in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama to gather information about period churches.

An additional note of historical importance, Wood said, is that the church also served as a school for the Dacula community.

Dacula United Methodist Church Pastor Matthew Mitchell accompanied Wood to the Sept. 1 Dacula City Council meeting to present the city with a print of Wood’s painting.

“The Dacula United Methodist Church has had a rich and proud history in this community having five locations, a number of different names which has been disputed in county records, in city records and in church lore,” he said. “But, we’re delighted to have this print here for you tonight and present this to the city as a part of the city’s heritage and our heritage with you.”