FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
JEFFERSON CITY, TENNESSEE
Large enough to serve...Small enough to care
The History of First Presbyterian Church of Jefferson City, TN
The year is 1788. Cherokee
Indians freely roam the hills south and west of the mountains swathed in blue smoke. The Revolutionary War has just come to
a victorious end. George Washington has not as yet been inaugurated as the first president. Tennessee is still part of
North Carolina - Watauga Country.
A flat boat slips quietly down Holston River and bumps ashore at a
place that would be called Mossy Creek. Aboard the flat boat are Adam and Elizabeth Sharkey Peck, their children, their slaves
and their belongings.
Within a year after their arrival, it is reported that Elizabeth, with the help
of her children and slaves, built a log structure for a house of worship. It was located in the oldest part of Westview Cemetery
and was called "Elizabeth's Chapel." Its first preacher was Uncle John, a negro slave, of whom his owner and others said "He
was the best person they ever knew." Although the Pecks were Methodist, people of all denominations were welcomed and encouraged
to worship there.
The Presbyterians and Methodists continued to meet together until October 1867 when
the Presbyterian Church at Mossy Creek was organized with 49 members, 5 ruling elders and 3 deacons. Trustee S.N. Fain, R.H. Ashemore
and A.M. Newman were empowered to buy land from the John Branner estate for the use of the church.
In
1869, according to an article in the Knoxville Press and Herald of December 1871, "They began to build a house of worship and carried
up the walls to the square of the house, but on the 17th day of January, 1871, just when they were ready to begin putting on the roof,
a violent storm blew the walls down."
The membership of 64, undismayed by the calamity, went to work
again with renewed energy and burnt a kiln of 200,000 bricks. Before the year was over, the walls were in place again, now much
thicker and sturdier than before, and under roof. On December 16, 1871 the dedication ceremonies began with the Rev. James Park
of Knoxville delivering the message. On the following day, Sunday the 17th, the sermon was preached by their first pastor, the
Rev. Joseph Martin of Jefferson County. His text was, "Ye Are the Temple of the Living God." The church cost $8000.
The original exterior remains very much the same with exception of the changes in size and color of the window glass, first from smaller,
clear panes to larger ones of a white and yellow marbleized effect, then to the present ones of colonial glass.
The building once stood even with the street. But after many years, the street wore down from the effects of wagons, buggy wheels,
and horse shoes. It was later graded down, even more, and the front steps and eventually the walls were built.
The sanctuary was originally entered on the north and south by two doors. Aisles ran north and south between these doors.
The two small rooms on the east and west of the present narthex were once saddle rooms. The preacher stood in an oval shaped
recess reached by steps on either side. From there he looked out upon the congregation and above their heads to an octagonal
clock. The choir sat in the southwest "Amen Corner." Behind the sanctuary on the south was one large room used for Sunday
School. From the wide back door, there was one wide step to the ground.
A beautiful chandelier
hung from the center of the sanctuary ceiling and oil burning brass lamps swung on brackets from the side walls. Two large pot
bellied stoves furnished heat. Teenaged boys pumped bellows of the small organ that was moved from time to time to a different
position in the room to encourage more of the congregation to sing. Significant remodeling was undertaken in 1913 and again
in 1949 when the Sunday School rooms and recreation rooms were added.
If you peek inside the saddle room today,
no longer will you find rows of saddles expectantly awaiting departing worshippers. More than likely, you will see rows of neatly
stacked boxes and lines of freshly pressed clothing waiting to be sold in our annual yard sale held every October to finance various
mission projects. The pot bellied stove has been replaced by central heat and air; the little pump organ has been replaced by
our Zimmer 7 1/2 ranks pipe organ.
But the message we bring today is much the same as it was on that December
day in 1871. God does not dwell in a temple made by hands; God dwells in a temple made of hands. We are a people saved
to serve. We serve a God of love. And if you follow us out the brass plated double front doors, you will find us involved
in countless ministries, both large and small, to all God's children.