A NOTE TO OUR READERS:
"Savannah Rings in the Season" is from the December 2003 issue of Southern Living. Because prices, dates, and other specifics are subject to change, please check all information to make sure it's still current before making your travel plans.

This joyful noise is so touching, so sweetly haunting it's as if the Lord has momentarily drawn aside an invisible veil and allowed me a glimpse of heaven. Such are the blessings of the holiday season in Savannah.

In this most hospitable city, many of the historic churches and synagogues welcome visitors with open arms year-round. They feel compelled to share their history, their architecture, their deep and abiding faith. Yet, during this season of celebration, these places of worship overflow with activity and anticipation.

In many ways, the congregations lining the squares in Savannah define the city, and this is no accident. The colony's first church service was held in Gen. James Oglethorpe's tent the day after he arrived on Yamacraw Bluff in 1733 with the first group of settlers. Christ Church stands today on that exact spot.

"When General Oglethorpe laid out the squares, there were two lots on the east and two lots on the west of every square," explains Mark C. McDonald, executive director of the Historic Savannah Foundation. "Those lots were reserved for public places such as churches that were necessary for the benefit of the colony."

Christ Church's Advent festival.

Though the city started with four squares, more were added as the colony grew. Some 21 of the original 24 squares remain intact today. Many still have churches on their east and west sides.

The Mother Church of Georgia
Christ Church, which overlooks Johnson Square, awes with magnificent white columns that give this Greek Revival-style building the feel of a classical temple. The floors are heart pine, and a long center aisle leads to the spectacular stained-glass window depicting Christ's ascension. On Sunday mornings, a 1,900-pound bell, forged in 1819 in Boston by Paul Revere and Son, joyfully calls parishioners to service.

Christ Church has survived hurricanes and fires, floods and pestilence. Still, it stands today as a testament to the faith and perseverance of the congregants and the people of Savannah.

"So many of the downtown churches in America have the beauty, but the large congregations are mostly gone," observes music director Mark K. Williams. "The people have left. They raised generations there, then they moved to the suburbs. But I walked into Christ Church, and here was this historic downtown church full of people. The spirit of God is very alive here."