Our churches, by the numbers

Tate United Methodist Church is one of the oldest in Pickens, built in 1887. The original building is used as the sanctuary.

     As we approach Good Friday and Easter – arguably the most hallowed of holidays in the Christian tradition – churches are on our mind. It’s a running joke that there’s one on every corner here, and that doesn’t seem far from the truth on a drive around the community. From downtown institutions like First Baptist Church of Jasper, to modern buildings like Revolution Church, to the defunct Miracle Fellowship Church in Smoky Hollow, a look at our religious spaces here shows we’re in no shortage – and that protestant Christianity dominates. 

We set out to get a snapshot of our churches – how many, what kind, and how much property value and land they make up and take up in Pickens County. But finding out the exact number of churches here – or anywhere for that matter - is easier said than done. Since churches can request an exempt status for property taxes we thought a good starting point was the Pickens County Tax Assessor’s Office. The Progress received a list of 67 churches from their records, and in our own search of the tax assessor’s qPublic website we uncovered a few more churches under tax exempt status. 

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