Photo courtesy of St. James United Methodist Church

Churches in downtown Augusta will open their doors for visitors to take a walk through their sanctuaries and through the past on Sunday, October 25. All of the participating churches are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and their histories represent many firsts for the community and for their denominations. However, the goal of the tour is to highlight the influence that these institutions have had on Augusta for more than 200 years.

The tour is an encore event following the success of last year’s historic church tour.

“It’s not an annual event, but last year we had such a great response. And a lot of people didn’t get to all of the churches,” says Rachel Gregory, the Sacred Heart Cultural Center rental director.

She says about 100 people came to Sacred Heart during last year’s tour, and other participating churches reported similar numbers.

“The churches want someone who hasn’t walked into a church to feel welcome,” Gregory says. “And a lot of the people who came on the tour have a history with a particular church. Maybe their parents got married there.”

Visitors can see historic places such as the oldest surviving Catholic church building in Georgia, and a church that was used as a hospital during the Civil War. They can visit the site where Civil Rights activist Dr. W.E.B. Dubois spoke in 1898 and the meeting place of Augusta’s first English-speaking Lutheran congregation. They can see the nation’s oldest independent African-American Church in continuous existence and likely the oldest religious building of Greek Orthodox design in the Southeast.

Participating churches are:

• Catholic Church of the Most Holy Trinity
• First Presbyterian
• Thankful Baptist
• St. James United Methodist
• Metropolitan Community Church of Our Redeemer
• First Christian
• St. John United Methodist
• Southern Bible Institute and Seminary (The building, an example of the Beaux-Arts architectural style, will not be open for the tour.)
• Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Resurrection
• Union Baptist
• Sacred Heart Cultural Center
• Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox
• Springfield Baptist
• St. Paul’s

Docents and written information will be on hand at the churches. Maps for the self-guided tour are available at any of the participating churches or online at historicaugusta.org.

 If You Go:

 What: Historic Downtown Augusta Church Tour

 When: Sunday, October 25; times vary, but most of the churches will be open 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Where: Telfair, Greene, Walker, Reynolds and 12th streets

How Much: Free

More Info: historicaugusta.org