Falling into ruin, these former places of prayer, photographed by Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast, are now spooky relics of days gone by.

However, beneath the debris and decay, there are plenty of fascinating architectural and interior details waiting to be unearthed, as well as some pretty incredible stories. 

Click or scroll through our gallery and join us as we creak open their doors...

Looking like a mouldering fairytale dwelling, this abandoned Baptist church is quite a surprising sight in rural Georgia. Featuring amazing Gothic Revival-style towers and a steeply pitched roof, it was constructed in 1899 by local craftsmen, according to Kent.

Eerily, there are 71 unmarked graves in its yard, along with 75 marked ones. Unmarked graves are frequently seen in older cemeteries as headstones were beyond the means of rural communities.

The little church is an amazing feat of craftsmanship. Its neat wooden slats remain mostly in place, despite the weather-whipped white paint peeling off. It also has an important history.

In 1886, a group of freed African American slaves, led by three local deacons, founded the church and a small school by purchasing two acres of land. During the segregation era in the US, schools like this were the only way African American children living in rural areas could access education.

Perfectly aligned church pews still stand inside the abandoned church. The interior is simple with plain blue painted walls, yet the Gothic-style arched windows allow light to stream into the sacred space.

No longer hosting regular services, the abandoned church is suffering from signs of neglect, with the ceiling and wall rendering falling down due to water damage.

In this closer view, you can see the ceiling has what appear to be water stains, with electric light fixtures damaged too. Recently placed on the Georgia Trust For Historic Preservation's Places In Peril List, descendants of the original congregation provide some financial support for the church, but more help is needed to save the building.

Here, you can see the imposing wooden pulpit where the preacher would read the Bible. In front stands a simple table with a lace cloth for more informal sermons.

A local group is trying to raise money to renovate the building, along with descendants of the original congregation, who meet for annual reunions at the church. Let’s hope funds can be found to preserve this unique landmark.

Looking like a monumental ancient Greek temple, this Augusta, Georgia church is a splendid example of Beaux Arts Classicism, a popular architectural style during the Gilded Age.

With a grand scale and elaborate ornamentation, the exterior includes an immense portico with six Corinthian columns. Created by Atlanta architect Willis Franklin Denny in 1902, it was designed in the style of the neo-classical Madeleine Church in Paris.

As memorialised on this sign outside the church, the First Baptist Church began in 1817, when 18 Christians formed the Baptist Praying Society. A brick church was built for the congregation, but this was torn down in 1899 to make way for the Beaux Arts building.

Notice the huge windows and elaborate carved stone detailing on the exterior. You can just about see the enormous copper dome crowning the top of the building.

Check out this monumental interior, with a huge six-door wide entrance dwarfed by four giant, decorative internal columns and a massive arched window! So impressive that you might miss the shredded paintwork and fallen plasterwork.

Shamefully, this southern congregation supported slaveholders holding prominent roles in the church, putting them at odds with northern Abolitionist Baptists. In 1845, about 293 Baptists met at the original church here to form the breakaway Southern Baptist Convention.

Here’s the interior of the massive copper dome, with its cathedral-sized windows. It’s in a terrible state of disrepair. You can see the ceiling tiles crumbling away, while scaffolding bores through its center and grime creeps along the walls and floor.

This Beaux Arts building was Augusta’s First Baptist Church until the early 1970s when the congregation moved to Walton Way Extension in West Augusta, a campus-style complex.

Liking this? Click the Like button above. And click the Follow button above for more great stories from loveEXPLORING

This beautiful stained-glass was created in Europe at the turn of the 20th century, according to Abandoned Southeast. The finely carved staircase looks ready to collapse! In 2005, a group of pastors tried and failed to raise enough funds to renovate the church.

The building was condemned in 2015, but its fortunes were revived in 2020 when it was bought by a developer who plans to restore the exterior and use the rear as office space.

Here’s your last glimpse inside a condemned church attached to a Tudor Revival mansion in Atlanta, Georgia. As you can see, the Baptist church was built on a grand scale, with a very fine cross-beamed ceiling.

It was once attached to Pinebloom, a 1914 Tudor Revival mansion, originally created for Preston Arkwright, president of the Georgia Railway and Power Company.

Even amid the decaying walls and floor, the beamed ceiling of the steeply pitched roof still looks strong and aesthetically pleasing. Notice how beautifully it echoes the arched alcove framing a monumental rear window.

Graffiti mars the neatly arranged pews, while ornate ceiling lights dangle down over this former place of worship. Famous evangelist, Billy Sunday, preached to a large congregation at the home, according to Abandoned Southeast.

Look at the intricately carved wood panelling above the altar. The high ceiling and tall windows create a lofty space, giving the worshipers a sense of something bigger than themselves. By 1950, the mansion was sold to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

The Baptist Hour radio show was recorded on the third floor. SBC sold the house just years later to Jackson Hill Baptists. This group grafted the massive church onto the side of the mansion, in 1957.

On the back of the pew, you can see the holders for hymn books and prayer cards. Notice the irreverent graffiti pointing the way to ‘god’ through the altar. In the late 1990s, the property became headquarters for The Christian Index, a Baptist newspaper.

However, the renovation and maintenance of the building proved too expensive. By 2003, the property was empty, according to Abandoned Southeast.

Debris from decaying plaster is sprinkled along the red-carpeted aisle in this shot. In 2021, the property was sold to Joel Reed of Reed and Company. The historic mansion, which is protected by a preservation order, will be divided into housing units. 

Sadly, the church was not protected. Now forever lost, the church has already been demolished.

Even with cracked white paint and decaying angel motifs, the gates to this lavish church complex still look formidable enough to hint at the grandiose buildings beyond. Called Little Bethlehem, the complex was built for evangelical preacher, George Pike, in Monroe, Georgia.

Pike had founded an organisation called Jesus Christ Eternal Kingdom of Abundant Life, Inc. In 1970, Pike bought this 70-acre spread of land to house his new headquarters.

A gaudy mix of styles, this primarily ranch-style home, with a touch of neo-Baroque in the ornate plasterwork, was known as ‘the father’s house’ as it was built for Pike, however, it remained unfinished.

Notice the two giant candle sculptures flanking the entrance, and the drained water feature on the ground. Reportedly, Little Bethlehem wasn’t affiliated with any specific denomination of Christianity. It preached divine communication through shapes and symbols, says Abandoned Southeast.

Inside the chapel building, there’s a distinct space-age feel to the décor. The oddly curving ceiling with strip lighting around the edges gives the impression of being cocooned inside a futuristic spaceship. 

Little Bethlehem attracted a big congregation, however, locals were not such big fans of Pike’s charismatic style of preaching, with some viewing it as a cult. 

A closer view reveals the altar with coloured lights adding to the spaceship effect. Gleaming chandeliers and glistening red seating turn up the eccentricity. Pike created an open-air market for members to sell discounted food and clothes.

The church even had its own currency called Script, and a church member even mistakenly used a check from the special currency at a public bank. This reportedly led to the FBI paying Little Bethlehem a visit! However, it was soon smoothed over.

You can see an amazing dove shape formed from illuminated plastic panels hovering over the altar, while electric lights in the shape of candles rise out of the altar. Pike died in 1996 and is buried in a star-shaped mausoleum on the complex.

In 2013, Pike’s son, David, gave a closing prayer as the complex shut. It was abandoned until 2016 when he and other church members purchased the assets. Today, David has a residence at Little Bethlehem.

The grandeur of this Gothic-style church interior is apparent, despite the decay of decades. This Methodist church in Alabama was built in 1927, according to Abandoned Southeast.

Some of the windows were removed when the church closed down, while others fell out over time. But the vibrant remnants of the stained glass in the arched Gothic-style windows are a testimony to the building’s former glory. 

Here, you can see how the balcony level has partially fallen down due to a lack of maintenance. The pews remain neatly arranged as the fabric of the church collapses around them.

The interior walls of this abandoned space are almost completely worn back to the bricks, probably stripped of their coverings because of water damage.

On the balcony level, a striking Gothic-style arched window frame stands mostly empty of its colourful glass. The heaps of fallen rubble suggest the rest of the balcony may be close to collapse.

The church’s congregation must have numbered many in decades past, judging by the numerous seats in the building. In fact, the church even had its own daycare facility!

Broken by vandals, a beautiful Wurlitzer piano has been flung onto its side, while parts of the altar have been kicked down. It’s difficult to understand why such a magnificent church has been allowed to disintegrate like this…

Terrible damage is visible here, with parts of the sanctuary floor having crumbled and fallen into the basement. But it’s no wonder the ravages of time are so severe as the church has been abandoned for many decades. In 1974, this church congregation joined with another Methodist branch in a new building in a nearby community.

The following year, the church was shuttered and sold. It has stood empty ever since.

Built about a century ago, the symmetrical, geometric exterior of this church with its light ornamentation has a touch of Art Deco style about it. You can see the grand scale of this Alabama house of worship in the recessed triple doors, separated by regal columns. 

At first glance, the elegant wooden panels on the doors, walls and carved wooden staircase make the interior look more like a stately home than a church. But the plaster chips littering the plush red carpet tell a tale of sustained neglect.

Once a hub for the local community, the beautiful brick church has welcomed worshipers from many different denominations, as it has changed hands multiple times over the past 100 years, says Abandoned Southeast.

Elegance is the hallmark of the sanctuary room, featuring a wonderfully arched ceiling and a pretty circular rear window with stained glass arranged to form the petals of a flower.

The seamlessly curved wood-panelled balcony is similarly striking. The shiny white paint creates an airy feeling in the room, marred only by large patches of decay.

Apparently, the last congregation abandoned the property a few years ago. Attempts have been made to sell the building but with no luck yet. The church is spread across two levels and includes the sanctuary, multiple large rooms, bathrooms, a full basement, plus other buildings with a commercial-sized kitchen, dining hall and stage.

Here’s a close-up of the altar, the woodwork is simply divine! Plus, check out the craftsmanship of the wooden lattice above the altar.

In this view from the balcony, you can see how this structure is designed around visually pleasing soft curves, shown by the ceiling, balcony front, pew ends, altar frame and window frames.

Fingers crossed a buyer with imagination comes along to preserve this building, perhaps transforming it into an art, music or theatre venue for the community to treasure.

This abandoned Baptist church in Jacksonville, Florida was built in 1955 by James Edward Hutchins, one of the few black architects in the area at this time.

The building looks like a take on modern Gothic, with two towers surrounding a steeply pitched roof and arched Gothic-style windows.

Look at this once beautiful interior reduced to rubble! The frosted blue glass remains in most of the Gothic-style windows but the bright colour is fading. It’s quite spooky how the light manages to hit the cross on the back wall, illuminating it amid the devastation.

The first services for this congregation date to 1896, in an earlier small white wood-framed building. This historically African-American neighbourhood was born when freed slaves bought land from a former plantation.

It’s sad to see how little of the interior remains. The pews have been stripped out, as has the altar, although the lectern survives. After nine pastors, Reverend William Hill led the congregation from 1942 until his death 30 years later.

Hill wanted a new church to accommodate his growing congregation and to create a landmark site for the neighbourhood, so this church was built.

The damage in this abandoned building is so severe that you can see light coming in through the torn open roof in this close-up of the ceiling. In 1999, Reverend John Allen Newman relocated the congregation from this landmark church.

Newman made the news when he proposed from the new church's pulpit to Donald Trump’s former aide, Omarosa Manigault. 

One pew has been seemingly torn apart and is propped up against the wall, while other pews have been broken up, leaving wood strewn across the floor. In 2017, it seemed the former sanctuary would get a second lease of life. It was set to be turned into a craft brewery, as part of a bigger redevelopment of the area.

However, it seems nothing has happened in five years and news of the redevelopment has fallen silent. The church continues to molder and decay.

This once-majestic church in Virginia is a rare example of Romanesque Revival-style architecture. You can see this distinctive design represented by the thick masonry, the arched windows and the bold ornamentation on the ceiling and balcony.

It’s very sad to see the beautiful, ornate ceiling now crumbling away.

The church was built in 1844 and actually started out life in the different but equally beautiful architectural style of Greek Revival, says Abandoned Southeast. In 1897, the church was enlarged and a new Romanesque Revival exterior was added.

The altar still looks striking despite the dust, debris and discarded prayer books tossed on the floor, though the descending ceiling panels are particularly concerning.

You can get a good view of the ornate ceiling here, featuring stunning chandeliers. But it's decaying terribly, with huge chunks of ceiling flaking away. 

The soaring orange, red and blue stained-glass windows are particularly eye-catching. This balcony was probably a choir loft for the singers to sit in and belt out hymns over the congregation below.

Look at this wonderful old piped organ beside the altar. There's a second set of organ pipes on the other side of the altar to ensure the music really rang around the church, and the last played hymn numbers are even still listed on the board.

However, the corner of the ceiling is collapsing, dangerously close to an intact stained-glass window.

It’s spooky to see the hymn book open on the lectern, as if an invisible service was being conducted! Charmingly, the lattice on the choir balcony is embellished with tiny floral motifs.

Notice the memorial plaque to a deceased, longstanding member of the congregation on the wall. Wonderfully, it seems this beautiful old church may yet have a happy ending. The Methodist church was sold in September 2020, with the new owner intending to preserve and restore the property.

Liked this? Click the Like button above. And click the Follow button above for more great stories from loveEXPLORING