Amazing church with an amazing pastor at that don't go there any more moved away but when I was…read morethere it was great.

The coast aside, the Episcopal Church did not have a presence in Georgia until well into the 19th…read moreCentury. This church therefore stands as one of the oldest (around the time the city was the state capital) in the state, established in 1841. Interestingly, the church was built in the Gothic Revival style that was gaining momentum at the time in Europe, though you don't see much of it here (though granted Georgia had some disruptive moments during the period, fair to say). Maybe I'm showing my preferences here, but there's probably nothing more I love than a Gothic Revival church with stained glass windows (well, other than an actual Gothic church, I suppose) and this does not disappoint. The church suffered damage during the Civil War, when Sherman's men dynamited an area nearby and blew off the roof. Further, they poured molasses down the organ pipes to mute its potential warning effects. But as with the Phoenix, so with the church - the remodeling done in 1873 gives a beautiful beamed roof, and the 1909 pipe organ has a brilliant reedy tone, as evidenced during a recent Eucharist. A church member told me that the stained glass by the altar was a gift from Savannah's Christ Church - as the Confederacy was expecting an attack on the coast, that area was fortified more securely than poor St. Stephen's, so a gift was given to rebuild. The church is a jewel box, but it is still a house of worship. We attended the Celtic Eucharist on Saturday afternoon (a music-free service consisting mostly of a recitation of an old poetic prayer with a homily) and then attended the Rite II Eucharist the next morning to hear the organ. The church appears to be on the more progressive side of the Episcopal church split, and the rector's words were philosophical but presented with a country (but not cloying and folksy) charm. We came to Milledgeville to soak in the Flannery O'Connor influence, but it may be fair to say that this church was the highlight of our trip to Milledgeville.