Ebenezer, Georgia
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Ebenezer Townsite and Jerusalem Lutheran Church | |
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Jerusalem Lutheran Church | |
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| Location | Effingham County, Georgia |
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| Nearest city | Rincon, Georgia / Springfield, Georgia |
| Coordinates | 32°22′41″N 81°10′56″W / 32.37806°N 81.18222°WCoordinates: 32°22′41″N 81°10′56″W / 32.37806°N 81.18222°W |
| Built | 1767 |
| Governing body | Private |
| NRHP Reference # | 74000674[1] |
| Added to NRHP | December 4, 1974 |
Ebenezer, also known as New Ebenezer, is a ghost town in Effingham County, Georgia, United States, along the banks of Ebenezer Creek. It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places as Ebenezer Townsite and Jerusalem Lutheran Church in 1974.
It was established in 1734[2] by 150 Salzburger Protestants who had been expelled from the Archbishopric of Salzburg in present-day Austria by edict (see Salzburg#Religious conflict). Ebenezer was moved closer to the Savannah River in 1736, and at its new location many silk mills were opened. The Salzburgers' pastor, the Reverend Johann Martin Boltzius, sought to build "a religious utopia on the Georgia frontier." That idea was very successful for a time, and the economy thrived. Jerusalem Lutheran Church was completed in 1769.[3]
But, after the British invasion of 1778 during the American Revolutionary War, the town was severely damaged. It never fully recovered, although it briefly served as the capital of Georgia in 1782. It was made the county seat of Effingham County in 1797, but two years later the seat was transferred to Springfield, taking much county business with it. By the time Ebenezer was abandoned in 1855, the town covered only 1/4 square mile. The Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church is one of the few buildings that has survived in Ebenezer, and is believed to have the oldest continuing congregation in the state.
The Ebenezer Townsite and Jerusalem Lutheran Church were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 4, 1974. The New Ebenezer Camp, established 1977, is located in former Ebenezer.
One of the more notable people from Ebenezer was John Adam Treutlen, the first state governor of Georgia.
See also
- List of the oldest churches in the United States
- List of the oldest buildings in Georgia
References
- ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13.
- ↑ Morgan, Ted, Wilderness at Dawn: the Settling of the North American Continent, Chapter 13 (The Saltzburger Frontier), Simon & Schuster, New York, 1993
- ↑ Runyon, Shane A. and Davis, Robert Scott, Jr. (2005-03-18). "Ebenezer". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities Council. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- Swihart, Altman K. (1960). "The Lutheran Church in America, The Colonial Period". Luther and the Lutheran Church. New York: Philosophical Library. p. 273.
- Wolf, Richard C. (1965). "A Land of Hopes and Dreams, Salzburgers in Georgia: 1734". Lutherans in North America. Philadelphia: Lutheran Church Press. pp. 18–20.
- Daniel T. Elliott and Elliott, Rita f. (1991). "Seasons in the Sun: 1989 & 1990 Excavations at New Ebenezer". The LAMAR Institute. Retrieved 22010-03005.
- Historical maps of Ebenezer Settlement at the State and University Library of Bremen
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