Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: Robert M. Hendry moved from Georgia and purchased farmland in the Shady Grove area in 1852. Reverend Hendry, a Methodist Circuit Rider in Florida and Georgia, served as the pastor of Friendship Church in Madison County. In 1872, members of the congregation, including Hendry and his son Thomas, organized the Shady Grove Methodist Church. The congregation held its first services in an old log schoolhouse, but moved a few years later to a new log building. This 1900 wood-framed church building with white clapboard siding was moved to this land, once part of the Hendry homestead, in 1909. The building’s front door, flanked by sash windows on each side, opened to pews of rough-hewn native timber, polished smooth by use, and separated by a central aisle. Hymnals and stick fans advertising area businesses littered the pews. In 1963, a brick church building was constructed, and was dedicated as the Robert M. Hendry Memorial Methodist Church. For over a century, the church has served as a locus for religious and community activity.