Snellville is located approximately 25 miles northeast of Atlanta and 45 miles west of Athens at the intersection of U.S. Highway 78 and Georgia 124. It has become one of Gwinnett County’s fastest growing cities with a population of 20,000.

The first settlers in the southern part of Gwinnett County now known as Snellville were the Creek Indians (actually Muscogees, but termed Creeks by settlers since they lived along waterways). One of their burial sites was Lanier Mountain, just west of downtown. For two centuries residents of Snellville have found arrowheads, broken pottery, tomahawks, pipes and other evidence of the Indians’ presence. 

After the county of Gwinnett was established in 1818 and the land lottery of 1820, many families moved to the southern part of the county where they found rich timber, fertile soil and abundant streams. As the population increased, churches reflecting the religious backgrounds of the incoming settlers were established in the area. Zoar Methodist Church (1811), Rockbridge Baptist (1819), Haynes Creek Primitive Baptist (1826),  Friendship Primitive Baptist (1833), Bethany Baptist (1848), Mt. Zion Baptist Church (1853), Yellow River Baptist (1871), Raymond Hill Baptist Church (1875) and were some of the first. The two largest in-town churches, First Baptist of Snellville and Snellville United Methodist, were constituted in 1882 and 1884, respectively.