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On Sunday, Sept. 7, at 10 a.m. during the Communion Worship Service, First Presbyterian Church in Franklin will celebrate 175 years in Macon County. Rev. Dr. James Aydelotte, Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina, will deliver the morning sermon. Guest bagpiper Duane Stuart, of West Palm Beach, Fla., will play “Amazing Grace” and pipe worshipers out of the sanctuary after the service. A potluck luncheon, accompanied by a photographic slideshow of the church’s history, and informal music, will follow in Tartan Hall. Two commemorative plaques, marking the beginnings of the Presbyterian Church in Franklin will be affixed to the historic brick chapel, and to the newer main sanctuary.Written history of Presbyterians in Macon County begins some four years after the Macon County government was first organized, with a letter from Presbyterian missionary, Christopher Bradshaw, to the Concord Presbytery. According to Presbytery records, Bradshaw was moved to organize a church in Franklin at the request of 28 persons, “desirous to obtain the stated preaching of the Gospel of the Presbyterian order.” Upon Bradshaw’s petition to the Concord Presbytery, a church, to be known as Franklin Church, was accepted into the Concord Presbytery in the fall of 1833. Few references to the fledging church are found in the official Presbytery meeting minutes for the next several years, though many entries reflect the difficulties rural congregations experienced throughout Western North Carolina, as the Presbytery struggled to provide missionaries and supply pastors in accordance with Presbyterian customs to ordain only the seminaryeducated. Music director, Urs Tolotti, at the 1908 organ. In April of 1854, Concord Presbytery meeting notes make reference to Franklin again by adding to the rolls a newly organized church in Franklin, to be known as the Franklin Presbyterian Church. According to the minutes of Franklin Presbyterian’s first session meeting, held at the Female Academy in Franklin, this newly-functioning group voted to organize with Curtis Sanders, John Slagle, Barbara Slagle, Elam Slagle, Matilda Siler, and Jane McCloud, present. Curtis Sanders was chosen as Elder and Elam Slagle, Deacon. Trustees set aside $1,300 to build a sanctuary at the corner of Church and Harrison Streets, on land already purchased by the Trustees from the original Methodist land grant given by the State of North Carolina when Macon County was first subdivided. Rev. William Moore, already serving in Macon County, and said by some to have been raised in the county and a relative of Joab Moore, would draw a salary of $150 per year, and would continue as pastor of Franklin Presbyterian Church, as well as the existing Ebenezer Church, four miles south of town. Moore would regularly travel to Hiawassee, Ga., to pastor that rural congregation as well.Thus, Rev. Moore became the first fulltime pastor of Franklin Presbyterian Church. He served as pastor until he died of typhoid fever at his home in Franklin in 1865, four months after the Civil War ended. Rev. Moore is buried in the First Presbyterian Cemetery on White Oak Street, in Franklin. Church records show Rev. Moore himself purchased the land for the cemetery, and later donated it to the church. Chiseled into the face of Rev. Moore’s original grave marker is the epitaph: “A follower of the Lamb. A faithful witness to the Truth.” A pen and ink rendering of the current church complex. The red brick structure housing the Franklin Presbyterian Church was constructed just after the church was reorganized in 1854. It is the oldest remaining brick building in Macon County, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Accounts of its construction report the walls were laid of native red clay bricks, 12 inches in thickness. Slaves of Macon County resident Joab Moore, who resided along the Little Tennessee River, made the bricks at the river and furnished labor for the approximately 50x36- foot Greek Revival temple form structure, which exhibits the recognizable gable roof extending over the front façade to form a four-columned front porch. Double pine doors, each with a transom of glass, open to the interior. Some of the original hand-blown glass remains in the tall side windows, and in keeping with Presbyterian ideals of the times, no stained glass or heavy ornamentation was added to the church. Initially, no provision was made for heat. Later, a potbellied stove was ensconced in the center of the sanctuary. A second stove was then added along one sidewall, and the center stove was moved to an outside wall. Some years later, a church member recalled that Sunday school classes were taught in the four corners of the single room. On one fateful day, the flue pipe to the second stove fell from the ceiling, raining black ashes on the congregation.An elegant addition to the early building was a Victorian-styled reed pump organ, donated to the church circa 1908, which still operates, for those with the physical stamina to coax music from the turn of the century stops and pedals. The original oil lamps on the walls were wired for electricity somewhere around 1909, and then in the 1940s, John Bulgin, noted local ironsmith, constructed an iron chandelier to hang in the center of the church. The present square belfry, with louvered sides, was constructed in the 1940s to replace a damaged original, but the 1854 bell remains and is still rung each Sunday morning. In 1948, central heat was added as well as new pine and poplar floors. A two-story brick church school and office building was added that same year. As the congregation grew, a contemporary-styled 350- seat sanctuary was added in 1976, along with classrooms and office space. In June 1989, Tartan Hall, named to honor the Scottish heritage of many Presbyterians, was built to serve as a fellowship hall, complete with stage and kitchen. One of the larger functions held in Tartan Hall is the annual free Thanksgiving dinner, sponsored by the church, and open to the whole community. In 1991, the name of the Franklin Presbyterian Church was changed to First Presbyterian Church, and in 1993, a chapel committee of First Presbyterian began to repair the original building. After years of dedicated work, most of it done by church parishioners, the 1854 building was lovingly restored. Now called The Chapel, the building is used for informal worship on Sunday mornings and for special occasions. The Chapel is also open to visitors several times during the year during local festivals. |
