Photography by John Kirkland
Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church
Effingham | Organized 1733
The Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church stands on the banks of the Savannah River, about 30 miles upstream from Savannah. This historic brick structure is the oldest church building in Georgia and is often called the oldest public building in the state. The congregation was organized in Augsburg, Germany, in 1733, with the Reverend John Martin Bolzius and the Reverend Israel Christian Gronau as pastors—both of whom are buried in the church cemetery.
+ Continue readingThe members were exiles from Salzburg, Austria, seeking a place to live and worship. Sponsored by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in England, they sailed to the New World, with the first ship arriving in Savannah on March 12, 1734. General James Oglethorpe led them to their first settlement at Ebenezer Creek, several miles inland from the Savannah River. The site proved unsuitable: the soil was infertile, and disease took many lives. In 1736, Oglethorpe granted their request to move to the present site at New Ebenezer, where Ebenezer Creek meets the Savannah River.
The Salzburgers quickly prospered, building Georgia’s first sawmill (1735), orphanage (1737), rice and grist mill (1740), Sunday School (1734), and church of any denomination. By 1741, New Ebenezer had a population of 1,200 and a layout modeled after Savannah. The present Jerusalem Church was constructed between 1767 and 1769 from handmade bricks of local clay. Its 21-inch-thick walls, original window glass, and bells imported from Europe reflect the wealth and craftsmanship of its builders. Today, it is the oldest rural brick church in Georgia and the oldest continuing Lutheran congregation in America, worshiping in the same building.
The British invasion of 1778 during the Revolutionary War dealt a severe blow to New Ebenezer, which never fully recovered. The county seat moved to Springfield in 1799, and the town was abandoned by 1855. All that remains of the original settlement is the church, its cemetery, a 1755 Salzburger home, the 1835 Old Parsonage, and the Georgia Salzburger Museum. Still active today, Jerusalem Lutheran Church stands as a remarkable link to Georgia’s earliest colonial history and the enduring faith of its founders.