Covenant Presbyterian Church Has Served the Community for 90 Years

By Julie Herron Carson

The year was 1926. Calvin Coolidge was president of the United States. Harriet High donated her home and the surrounding land to be used as an art museum in Atlanta. A.A. Milne published his beloved children’s classic “Winnie-the-Pooh.” And a Presbyterian congregation left its original home in downtown Atlanta and moved to a new facility “just north of Peachtree Creek” in what would later become Buckhead.

That was the beginning of Covenant Presbyterian Church, this year celebrating 90 years of service from its sanctuary at 2461 Peachtree Road.

“In our 90 years on Peachtree Road, we’ve weathered a lot of changes, especially in geography, demographics, culture and politics,” said interim pastor Rev. Dr. Richard Hill. “Throughout it all, we have sought out opportunities to do God’s work, and I am confident we will continue to do so for the next 90 years and beyond.”

Covenant Presbyterian had its early beginnings in 1874 as an outreach church of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Tennessee. Over the next 30 years, the new congregation met in borrowed space, disbanded and re-formed, and built a church at the corner of Harris and Spring streets in 1904. Harris Street Presbyterian Church was known for its open door policy, and strengthened that reputation during World War I by inviting soldiers of all faiths to the church for services and social events.

In 1924, the decision was made to move the church’s location to a “quieter area,” and Harris Street Presbyterian became one of the first of the downtown churches to move north.

“Our church started a trend of downtown congregations moving north,” says Charlotte Cook, who has been a member of Covenant Presbyterian Church since 1939.

“Everybody thought we were crazy to relocate outside the city limits, beyond Peachtree Creek, but our congregation has never failed to step out in faith and do what we believe is right.”

Choosing a location at the corner of Peachtree Road and