"The best of all: God is with us."  

—John Wesley 

Trinity United Methodist Church on Telfair Square 

Trinity United Methodist Church is the oldest Methodist church in Savannah. When he was 33-years-old in 1735, John Wesley sojourned to the Georgia Colony, landing in Savannah (see PFS-57) with a plan to evangelize the area's Indian population. His ministry in the New World didn't go well, so Wesley soon returned to the Old World. John Wesley later founded Methodism in England, which became a separate Protestant denomination after his death in 1791. 

In 1848, the cornerstone of the Trinity United Methodist Church building was placed just off St. James Square. Savannah's city leaders changed its name to Telfair Square in 1883 to honor the notable Telfair Family (see PFS-34). Edward Telfair was a Revolutionary War hero and served three terms as Governor of Georgia. His daughter, Mary Telfair, made several significant gifts to the city (see PFS-26 and PFS-81). 

Fascinating events were going on in the world in 1848 when this church began its mission in Savannah: 

Joseph Jenkins Roberts, the first president of the Independent African Republic of Liberia, was sworn into office in 1848. The country of Liberia, located on the western coast of Africa, was a project of the American Colonization Society, an organization dedicated to 're-locating' free African Americans to Africa. Liberia's capital city is Monrovia, named after America's fifth President, James Monroe. 

In 1848, the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo settled the Mexican-American War. Simultaneously, the California Gold Ruch began with the shiny metal discovered at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. How convenient to Americans, with the California Territory no longer under Mexican jurisdiction. 

In England, Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto in 1848. That year remains famous for revolutions breaking out worldwide, from Brazil in South America to several places within Europe—including Germany, Poland, Denmark, France, Austria, and Hungary—to Punjab and Sri Lanka in Central Asia. Automation changed work conditions, driving an era known as the Hungry Forties, caused by poor harvests and economic modernity severely impacting the working class worldwide. 

Wisconsin became the 30th state to join the United States of America in 1848. 

President James Polk annexed the Oregon Territory in 1848, which included areas later turned into the states of Oregon, Idaho, and Washington, with other parts becoming pieces of Wyoming and Montana.  

Important to we beautiful ladies of America: 1848 was the year when the Seneca Falls Woman's Rights Convention, held in New York, introduced Bloomers! Amelia Bloomer, a women's voting rights advocate and newspaper publisher advancing temperance, introduced the garment to women across the country as an alternative to the typically heavy and uncomfortable dresses. It became an instant fashion craze. 

That same year the first medical school to train female doctors was founded in Boston, Massachusetts. 

One of the more popular American books in 1848 was Frederick Douglass's autobiography: The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. It was a bold publication relating his experience growing up as an enslaved Black man in Maryland. His story included learning how to read and write and his ultimate escape from slavery, which eventually led to the purchase of his freedom. 

To think! These historical events coincided with the Trinity United Methodist Church building, which remains as beautiful as ever on Telfair Square right here in Savannah.