In August I began moving into my own house.  This is a rental property situated north of Atlanta just off of Highway 63.  I will fully move into the house in mid-December and plan to commute to MU next semester from my home.  

This house is near our family farm and has a lot of history in the  family and neighborhood.  Built in the 1870s, it has been continuously owned by the Ayers family who homesteaded the land 1866. 

Before moving from their original cabin on the homestead, the Ayers' worked to build the Atlanta United Methodist Church in 1866.  In 1919, the original Church burned to the ground, only after men putting telephone lines through the area came into the church and rescued the stain glass windows.  Not a pane was broke from these beautiful windows, standing as tall as a man and twice as wide.  The pews were also saved.

Today's Atlanta UMC is the home of the Atlanta, Mt. Zion, and La Plata United Methodist Church Parrish.  The stained glass windows from the original church, as well as the theatre-style curved pews still remain.  Church attendance is near 30, with many under the age of 10.  Family membership includes my Grandparents, Joe Al and Betty Baker; my father, Robert W. Baker; sister Sharon Pennington; and myself.

INSERT PHOTO OF CABIN

The McDuffees, next door neighbors and ancestors of my own, were life-long friends of the Ayers and there were also many marriages between the families.  The original McDuffee Cabin was taken from our community and it now sits in a restored state at the Macon County Fairgrounds. Seven generations ago, the McDuffees moved to the rolling hills Northeast of Atlanta.  My sister, brother, and parents still own homes in the area today.  

The McDuffees helped establish the Shiloh Presbyterian Church near Love Lake, in between Atlanta and La Plata.  Rev. Albert Sidney Johnson Baker, named after a famous Civil War General, served as a Presbyterian minister in several local churches and was called to the Lord at Shiloh, as were many other members of the Love Lake Community.  ASJ Baker was my Great-Grandfather.

Farming has been the source of income for my family for generations.  Pictured above is Baker Farms, my home.  To the above left is the Carter Farm near La Plata, where my Grandparents reside.