Early Churches Story by Janice Cole Hopkins
N
ot surprisingly, early church growth in North Carolina
started near the coast and spread west because this was the pattern of first settlement and growth. At first, Britain tried to establish the Church of England in its colonies, but North Carolinians didn’t like paying taxes to support the church, so other denominations also have an early history in the state. Records show that the Society of Friends (Quakers) began in North Carolina in 1692, followed by the Anglicans (or later Episcopalians) in 1700. The Baptists came into the state in 1727, the Presbyterians in 1730, the Lutherans in 1740, the Moravians in 1753 and the Methodists in 1772. After the Revolutionary War, the Anglican Church was no longer welcome in the new nation, and those churches were changed to Episcopal
Churches.
Therefore,
many of the older churches in the Eastern Region are Episcopal. In fact, the oldest church in the state is St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Bath. It was founded in 1734, although its history dates back even earlier. A Spanish clergyman, who could barely speak English, and went unpaid for four years, baptized 635 people in a single year. The Rev. John Garzia secured valuable gifts, like a silver communion chalice, from the bishop and two silver candelabra from King George II, when the St. Thomas
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Edenton.
Church building was consecrated in 1744. Early in its history, St. Thomas
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