Independent Presbyterian Church, Protestant church in Savannah, United States
The Independent Presbyterian Church stands on Bull Street in Savannah, Georgia. Its 1891 building reproduces the 1800 structure modeled on St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, with a columned portico and a steeple that is an iron copy of the earlier wooden one. Symmetrical windows light the sanctuary.
The congregation began in 1755 as Georgia's first Presbyterian gathering, established on land granted by King George II. After fires damaged earlier structures, the current building rose in 1891 in its place.
The congregation descends from colonial adherents of the Church of Scotland, and the land for its first building was deeded by King George II. The name "Independent" refers to that self-governing Presbyterian congregation rather than to a breakaway sect. The church is listed within the Savannah Historic District.
The church stands on Bull Street within the Savannah Historic District, so it is reached on foot from the surrounding squares. The sources give no tour times or weekly schedule; confirm current opening hours with the congregation before visiting. Terry Johnson serves as minister in the Presbyterian Church in America.
The present steeple is an exact copy of the pre-1889 one, but made of iron rather than wood. Historian Charles Seton Henry Hardie, who moved to Savannah in 1835, wrote that after a Rip Van Winkle sleep of nearly thirty-five years he could not have told the 1891 reproduction from the building he knew as a boy.
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