Old Kingsport Presbyterian Church (formerly known as Boatyard Presbyterian Church and Kingsport Presbyterian Church) is an historic church located in

Kingsport, Tennessee Kingsport is a city in Sullivan and Hawkins counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It lies along the Holston River and had a population of 55,442 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city in the Kingsport–Bristol metropolitan area, ...

. The church was organized May 20, 1820 as the Boatyard Congregation. It is the oldest one of any denomination in the city of Kingsport. It is a member of the

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PCUSA, is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States too. Its theological roots lie primarily in the Scottish Reformat ...

History

The congregation was organized in 1820. It originally met in a log structure located in the present-day Old Kingsport Presbyterian Church

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

. The cemetery remains in use and contains several graves from the nineteenth century in its oldest section. The first pastor was the Rev. Robert Glenn (1820–1826). The Rev. Dr. Frederick A. Ross, owner of Rotherwood Mansion in Kingsport, was minister from 1826 to 1852. He did not receive compensation for his service. Under Ross' leadership, the church grew rapidly, quickly outgrowing its log building. Dr. Ross financed the construction of the current church building in 1845, with the labor of his own

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

; the building was dedicated on July 18, 1846. Ross also donated the church the large

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

bell that still calls people to worship; the bell was made in

West Troy, New York Watervliet ( or ) is a city in northeastern Albany County, New York, United States. The population was 10,375 as of the 2020 census. Watervliet is north of Albany, the capital of the state, and is bordered on the north, west, and south by th ...

, by the famous

Meneely Bell Foundry The Meneely Bell Foundry was a bell foundry established in 1826 in West Troy (now Watervliet), New York, by Andrew Meneely. Two of Andrew's sons continued to operate the foundry after his death, while a third son, Clinton H. Meneely, opened a se ...

. The building is considered a fine example of

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

architecture and is one of the oldest extant structures in Kingsport. The

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

led to a period of decline in both Kingsport and the church. Membership slowly declined in the decades following the war, with a long series of pastors each serving for brief periods during this time (1865–1910). Railroad tracks were laid just north of the church property in 1910, requiring the building to be moved a few yards south and rotated to face east; it had originally faced north. When the City of Kingsport was created in 1917, most of the remaining members left the now-Old Kingsport Church in order to form the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Kingsport. Only five members remained on the roll, and the church served as a community center for the next two decades. The

Sunday School ] A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes. Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...

remained active through the 1920s and 1930s, however. The church was re-organized in June 1937 and began to slowly rebuild its membership. The first pastor of the re-organized church was Rev. Albert H. Mutschler. He oversaw the building's renovation, as well as the construction of three levels of Sunday School rooms attached to the back of the old sanctuary, as well as a basement. A fellowship hall was dug out under the sanctuary in 1950. The church building was moved to its current location off of Stone Drive ( U.S. Route 11W) in the summer of 1953 to land donated by Mrs. Octavia Patton. The 1950s and 1960s were a time of quick growth; during this time, the church had a number of programs and a large number of youth and younger people. The church reached a peak of membership (190) in the early 1970s. Since that time, it has seen a declining membership total, as well as an aging congregation, both of which are trends experienced by mainstream denominations in general over the same time period. The church was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1973. The Rev. David Hambrick served as interim pastor from 2003 to 2015. The current pastor is Mr. Jeff Morelock, who began his service on August 1, 2016. In recent years, the historic building has received a number of repairs and updates, plus quite a bit of beautification, inside and out. After nearly two centuries, the Old Kingsport congregation, though small, remains active in the Kingsport area.

Sources

Rozendaal, John H. Old Kingsport Presbyterian Church. Kingsport, the church, 1982. 37 pp.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Presbyterian churches in Tennessee Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Religious organizations established in 1820 Churches completed in 1846 19th-century Presbyterian church buildings in the United States Buildings and structures in Sullivan County, Tennessee 1820 establishments in the United States Kingsport, Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Sullivan County, Tennessee