In 1849,[2] Bloomfield moved south to Athens, Georgia, where he opened a men's clothing store on the city's Broad Street.
[1] He was appointed the first assistant engineer of Athens' first volunteer fire department, the Independent Hook and Ladder Company, in May 1857.
[1] Thirteen years later, Bloomfield had established a pottery that produced sewer and drain pipes, as well as "jugware of all kinds".
[1] The couple were living on Clayton Street in Athens by 1854; their son, Robert Kearny Bloomfield, was born on January 9 that year.
[1] Despite his hailing from the north, Bloomfield was a supporter of the South's Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
After a financial depression hit Athens, resulting in a large fall in parishioners, the church closed in 1899.