Celtic Cross Dedicated to the Memory of Charles Wesely (picture by Rose Hammitt)

While St. Simons Island Georgia is a resort area, the island is filled with history. Some of the history that amazed me was that the beginning of the Methodist church has its roots on this small coastal island. Both John Wesley and Charles Wesley served as missionaries on the island arriving with Georgia’s founder James Oglethorpe. We had the honor of stopping outside the Christ Church Frederica (http://www.christchurchfrederica.org. ) A historical sign in front of the church shares, “This congregation was established as a mission of the church of England in February 1736. The Rev. Charles Wesley ordained priest of that Church conducted the first services in the chapel within the walls of Fort Frederica. The Rev. John Wesley, Rector of Christ Episcopal Church, Savannah also served this mission under the name of St. James. This was one of the first eight parishes established in 1756. After the Revolution these churches which had been served continuously by clergymen of the Church of England formed the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.”

Accross the street from the church is the Wesley garden and one path leads back to a large sculpture of a Celtic cross that in part celebrates the fact that Charles Wesely was also a hymn writer. At the baseof the statue is this wording, “Leader in the evangelical revival, as a Christian hymn writer he is unrivaled.”