Old South Presbyterian Church in Newburyport

During my trips to the North Shore several weeks ago, I visited historic sites around Essex County, Massachusetts. I took a tour of important stops in colonial era New England religious history, one of which was Old South Presbyterian Church. This building hosts an active congregation and is the final resting place of evangelist George Whitefield, who requested to be buried beneath the altar. Other nearby places of interest include the house where Whitefield died, the house where abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison was born, and a large rock where Whitefield gave a sermon.

The congregation of Old South Presbyterian Church was founded in 1746, while the building was constructed ten years later in 1756. Itinerant Calvinist minister George Whitefield influenced the first pastor, Jonathan Parsons, to lead the congregation, a remarkable feat since Whitefield was nine years younger than Parsons. As for the local pastor, Parsons made the position his own by encouraging his patriotic parishioners to rebel against King George III, the head of the Church of England. Parsons died on July 19, 1776, reportedly the day that a copy of the Declaration of Independence arrived in Newburyport. He is currently buried in the same crypt as Whitefield. The church is included on the American Presbyterian and Reformed Historical Sites Registry but not the National Register of Historic Places.

George Whitefield has made frequent appearances on the blog. The founder of the First Great Awakening preached his final sermon at Thing-Lovery House in Exeter, NH not long before his death, while he was featured in a miniature sculpture series by local artist Jeffrey Briggs at Custom House Maritime Museum just down the road from the church. Whitefield received a cameo in the Ipswich Riverwalk Murals by Alan Pearsall featured in Part 1 of Quick History Stops in Ipswich, MA, while he preached at First Church in Ipswich featured in Part 3.

As for the design of the church, the architecture was fairly standard for a Neoclassical inspired whitewashed New England church of the early to mid-18^th century with the exception of the crypt in the cellar. The original pews with closable doors are little different than when they were first constructed and parishioners bid on the seats, a decent way to create a seating chart and raise money but not exactly equitable or welcoming to visitors. Down a somewhat steep flight of wooden stairs is the red brick crypt containing the remains of three ministers: George Whitefield, Jonathan Parsons, and Joseph Prince. Atop the stones covering the crypt is a model of Whitefield’s skull. When phrenology or the pseudoscience of skull measurements was popular, Whitefield’s body was exhumed to replicate his skull and determine if its properties held the answer behind his unusually loud voice.

Back outside, two important Georgian style houses stand on the street. A two-story yellow house with black shutters and a pair of dormer windows was the former parsonage of the church and the location of Whitefield’s death. He was fifty-five years old and understood that he had worked himself to death. Directly next to the church is a two-story slate blue house marked with a plaque as the birthplace of William Lloyd Garrison, who was born on December 10, 1805. He would later found the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), publish the weekly anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator, and work with fellow activists Frederick Douglass, the Grimké sisters, and Abby Kelley Foster.

Not far away in Rowley, MA is Pulpit Rock, one location of Whitefield’s many outdoor sermons. The tour guide even dressed up as Whitefield and performed part of the sermon. A church building called Linebrook Parish was constructed near the rock in 1749 and moved to Ipswich in 1847, although the burial ground is still at the original site. The current congregation in the church building formed in 2006. As for exploring the area containing Pulpit Rock, a carefully adventurous walker can easily climb to the top and look out. A recent development meant trees have been cleared and a very large building is being constructed, making it a bit more difficult to imagine how approximately two thousand people had gathered to hear a Whitefield sermon. However, this rock is still superior to Plymouth Rock.