Sweetwater Community is west of Hayesville and contains rural areas, 6 church buildings, a community building, and several stores and small businesses.  The mountainous scenery is peaceful and lovely to see.  The Hiawassee River is a beautiful place to enjoy recreation, fishing, or wading.  For a map of Sweetwater Township, click here.

The six church buildings are:

Church of the Nazarene (no cemetery) (sponsor of the live Nativity Pageant with live camels in 2001) on Highway 64,

Sweetwater Baptist Church on Fires Creek Road and cemetery,

Sweetwater Methodist Church on Highway 64 (Church of Christ also meets there) and cemetery,

Fires Creek Baptist Church on Fires Creek Road and cemetery,

New Hope Baptist Church on Carter Cove Road and cemetery, and

Grace Baptist Church (no cemetery) on Carter Cove Road. 

The Sweetwater Community Center was re-established in September 2000 by Fred Roth and the community.  The building was remodeled by volunteers in the area and by 2 teams of teenagers from nearby Hinton Center http://www.hintoncenter.org.  Activities at the community club include monthly meetings or dinners, voting precinct, 5 week genealogy class, Halloween party for Sweetwater children, creating a park on the nearby Hiawassee River, parties and reunions. 

Gid Laney was an amateur photographer in the area in the 20's and 30's.  A set of his photographs of this area is displayed at the Clay County Historical and Arts Museum which is in the old jail in downtown Hayesville.  One of his unidentified family photos shows a family of 8 in front of their home in the Sweetwater area.

Article and photos by Marie Benge Craig Roth

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