What´s Circular Congregational Church

521 Words2 Pages

The members of Circular Congregational Church are proud to be one of the oldest continuously worshipping congregations in the South. The congregation was co-founded with Charles Towne, 1680–1685, by the English Congregationalists, Scots Presbyterians, and French Huguenots of the original settlement. These "dissenters" erected a Meeting House in the northwest corner of the walled city. In 1804, the time had come to replace the Meeting Street house with a more commodious building. Martha Laurens Ramsay proposed a circular form and Charleston’s leading architect, Robert Mills, who also designed the Washington Monument in D.C., completed the plans. The church he designed was a Pantheon-type building 88 feet in diameter with seven great doors and 26 windows. On its main floor and in the gallery it was said to accommodate 2,000 worshippers. In 1838 the people of Circular Church, as it was now popularly called, erected a New England-style steeple that towered 182 feet above Meeting Street. The old Circular Church fell into ruinous condition following a great fire in 1861 and the Civil War....

Open Document