Robert Newton Saye

Athens Banner Herald

The Reverend Robert Newton Saye was ordained a Baptist minister 21 March 1934 at East Athens Baptist Church, Athens, Georgia. Soon afer that, he accepted the pulpit of New Harmony Baptist Church, near Athens, where he conduced mid-afternoon services befoe returning to East Athens Church for the evening service. He accepted a call to a third church, Edwards Chapel, also at Athens, and conducted services there on Friday evenings. During the three years or so he was pastor of these three churches, he also conducted revivals at churches in the area. He later resigned from the pastorates of East Athens and New Harmony, resumed his original vocation as a carpenter and remained as pastor at Edwards Chapel for about 30 years, retiring in the 1970s. As a carpenter in 1950, he almost single-handedly built the home where he lived until his death in 1983. Robert Saye was also a collector, collecting coins, stamps, tools, rocks and barbed wire, but his great passion was Indian artifacts, at one time owning more than 80,000 pieces In the early 1970s, someone broke into the building that housed his museum and stole several valuable pieces. Fearing that burglaries at the museum would bring intruders to his nearby home, he sold most of his collection