Kennesaw church rezoning passes, but with conditions

Shiloh United Methodist Church in Kennesaw was built on controversy in the 19th century. It survived Sherman’s march to the sea to once again overcome controversy in the 21st century.

After nearly three hours of public comment Monday, the Kennesaw City Council approved the historical church’s rezoning request from residential to community retail commercial, with a compromise stipulation. The developer church officials want to sell the land to cannot build a gas station and convenience store on the Cherokee Street parcel.

Enlarge this image

Bob Andres/bandres@ajc.com

Shiloh United Methodist Church in Kennesaw was founded in 1832.

Recent headlines:

• Woodstock family reaches out to storm victims 
• Cobb vet's license suspended 
• Burglars with sledgehammers foiled by concrete wall 

   • Cobb County news

Residents of the adjacent Pine Tree Country Club neighborhood spoke in opposition to the rezoning and proposed development.

Shiloh’s 100-member congregation earlier had voted to use proceeds from any sale to relocate and expand its ministry, especially to children and the poor, said the Rev. Bill Floyd, the church’s pastor.

The Shiloh congregation has been around longer than the city of Kennesaw. During the Civil War, the log cabin Shiloh church was used by Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman as a hospital and office during the Battle of Kennesaw, according to the church’s oral history and letters in the church’s archives.

The church was founded in 1832 as a brush arbor behind the church cemetery a half-mile away, the Rev. Floyd said.

When it came time to erect a permanent structure, the congregation showed up with logs ready to build. There was a falling out on the spot and some people left, taking their logs with them, he said.

Shiloh endured to become one of the county’s oldest churches. The first log cabin sanctuary and a later one burned down, and a beam from its log cabin origins is incorporated in the current church, which was built in 1932.