A historic Birmingham church plans to close its doors with a final service this Sunday, 182 years since its founding in 1841.

Five Mile Presbyterian Church, 1137 Five Mile Road, will have its final service on Sunday at 11 a.m.

“There is a certain sadness,” said Sharon Eich, lay pastor of Five Mile Presbyterian since 2002. “I just feel like that has been such a beacon to the community for so long.”

The congregation had dwindled down to about nine members, Eich said, compared to about 40 when she became the lay pastor. “Some people have had to go to nursing homes,” she said. “Some people have passed away.”

University of Georgia Professor John Knox, son of the late Rev. Harold Knox (pastor from 1963-1999), will give a historical presentation at 10:30 a.m. Sunday and the final service will be followed by a reception.

When it was founded, Five Presbyterian Church was in the country. In 1954, Huffman was annexed into the City of Birmingham and that included the historic church.

“Silver Billy” Reed built a sawmill nearby on Five Mile Creek in 1821 to serve newly arriving settlers.

A post office was established in 1885, with Robert W. Huffman as postmaster.

The white clapboard church with a bell tower still stands next to a brick sanctuary that was dedicated on Oct. 19, 1958.

The historic wooden church and adjoining Civil War-era cemetery will be placed in a trust, with trustees and a groundskeeper. The wooden church has occasionally been used for weddings and hymn singings but only holds 30 people and has no modern amenities. “It doesn’t have any heat, air or water,” Eich said.

The 1958 brick sanctuary and fellowship hall will be owned by the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley and likely will be sold to another congregation, Eich said.

After she became lay pastor in 2002, Eich said the historic wooden church suffered storm damage to its steeple. People from the community rallied to raise money and repair it.

“It meant so much to them coming around the corner and seeing that steeple,” she said.

“It’s such a wonderful, loving congregation that has been a blessing in my life,” Eich said.

A handful of elderly people simple cannot keep up the property anymore, she said.

“Most of the congregation is in their 80s,” she said. “It’s just time.”