The first church building was a log cabin near spring near the present building. There were holly trees around the spring so thae church was names Holly Springs. John C. Watkins executed a deed for 5 acres of land to the following Trustees and their successors: Sterling G. Davis, Joshua Wilson, Luke T. Watkins, Josiah Marlow, and Matthew G. Watkins for a place of Divine Worship known as Holly Spri
ngs Meeting House of the M.E. Church South (and for a school house for the education of children of the neighborhood if they, the said Trustees think proper). In order to gain rights to the holly spring as a water supply, on the 4th day of September 1891, Elvira J. Wilson executed a deed for one twenty-fifth an acre of land to the following trustees: Luke T. Watkins, James J. Watkins, Benjaman M. Watkins, Minor Gilbert, Jackson C. Hancock, and Wesley W. Hancock for the sum of fourty-five cents. The present church building was erected in 1888 to replace the building used for both a house of worship and school. Records show that a Sunday School had been organized prior to 1886. J.J. Watkins served as Superintendent from 1886 to 1992, a period of 26 years. Children’s Day has been observed by the Church as the second Sunday in May for almost a century. Since the institution of Mother’s Day, the two celebrations have been combined. It is not known when the Youth and Women’s Organizations were begun in the church. The cemetery adjacent to the church began with the internment of Mrs. Ann Cheatham on May 6, 1872. Three ministers of the Gospel came from Holly Springs. All were members of the North Georgia Annual Conference. Rev. Parker Watkins, Bishop Wm. T. Watkins, and Rev. Buren W. Hancock, all deceased. Hancock served as the Executive Secretary of the Board of Pensions. It has been said that this is the only church that can claim both a Bishop and his wife, Mrs. Wm. Watkins, the former Miss Edith Hancock. The old building was used as a school until about 1908. It was sold for $75. The money was equally divided between the church and the new community school. Holly Springs Church was a member of the Maysville Charge, Athens-Elberton District. In November 1931, Conference District lines were redrawn and Maysville Charge became part of Gainesville District. The lines were redrawn again and approved by the North Georgia Conference in the fall of 2020. The church is currently part of the Northeast District. Religious services were held once a month, one service on Saturday when business was transacted on Sunday morning. Later, services were held on Sunday morning and evening. Since 1957 there has been on worship service each Sunday. Two morning services and two evening services per month. The church currently has Sunday morning services each week. In 1957 by act of the Annual Conference, Holly Springs was separated from the Maysville Charge and united with Candler and Dunagan Chapel to form the Gainesville Circuit. Holly Springs agreed to construct and furnish a parsonage for residence of Ministers. H.A. Langford deeded attract of land on which the parsonage was built in 1957. In 1964 an addition was made to the building. Holly Springs Cemetery
According to Mary Nell’s history of Holly Springs, the first cemetery adjacent to the church was begun on May 6, 1872 with the interment of Mrs. Ann Cheatham, who was born in 1801 and died in 1872. This is the oldest one found in the cemetery. One would think that there would be some casualties from the Civil War; but, there are no records of that. Also, as far as the records show, no one is buried in the cemetery in either of World Wars. It seems unlikely to me that it would have been 23 years before someone would have been buried here after the founding of the church, especially considered the killing of disease of that ear and high rate of birth deaths. However, many graves are marked only with a rock so the church has no way of knowing when they were buried. The flu epidemic just after World War I (1918-1919) killed 20 million people (more than lost their lives in the war) and Ms. Nell’s sure many of these burials during that time was caused by the flu. She found 12 deaths for the years 1918-1919. She remembers one of the former pastors being excited about finding the grave of “Billy Sunday” in the cemetery. Turns out it was not the great evangelist (1862-1935) but an infant named for him (Billy Sunday Langford, 1917-1918). The church was also visited by Deborah Norville (who has various news shows on TV; but known for her work as the anchor of INSIDE EDITIOIN). Her relatives are buried here – on one tombstone is written “Nancy Ann Norville, Consort of Amuel Norville, Born 1-21-1833 Died 3-8-1883”. Ms. Nell looked up the definition and found it to be “a partner, wife or husband”. Many of the great families of this area, the Langfords, the Hancocks, the Lipscombs, the Hartleys etc. are buried in the cemetery. One of the Hancocks buried in the cemetery was Ernest Sewell Hancock, who was killed in the Gainesville tornado in 1936.
