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Unitarian Universalist Church (Unitarian Church)

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1850–1851, John S. Norris; 1860 moved and rebuilt, John B. Hogg; 1999–2000 restored. 321 Habersham St.

Founded in 1831, the Savannah Unitarian Society dedicated its first building in 1834 on Wright Square. Funded by a bequest of the “recently deceased silversmith Moses Eastman” (May 24, 1850), the cross-plan church was originally built on the northwest trust lot facing Oglethorpe Square. The congregation was disbanded in 1858, apparently because of the unwelcome abolitionist stance taken by the minister, John Pierpont Jr. whose brother, James L. Pierpont, served as the organist and music director and is remembered for his song “Jingle Bells, or The One Horse Open Sleigh,” possibly composed here. The building was dismantled and rebuilt in 1860 on its present site as St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church for free people of color. It became the Savannah Baptist Center in 1958, but in 1997 a different Unitarian-Universalist congregation purchased the property and restored the building with support from local philanthropist and preservationist Mills B. Lane IV.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Robin B. Williams with David Gobel, Patrick Haughey, Daves Rossell, and Karl Schuler
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Data

What's Nearby

Troup Square
Edward Kennedy Row
John J. McDonough Row
Cathedral Parochial School
Convent and Academy of St. Vincent DePaul

Citation

Robin B. Williams with David Gobel, Patrick Haughey, Daves Rossell, and Karl Schuler, "Unitarian Universalist Church (Unitarian Church)", [Savannah, Georgia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/GA-02-8.22.

Print Source

Buildings of Savannah, Robin B. Williams. With David Gobel, Patrick Haughey, Daves Rossell, and Karl Schuler. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2016, 151-152.

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