President Millard Fillmore, a Unitarian, attended an evening service at this church in 1854. In spite of the earnest efforts of the minister and congregation, the church was the victim of the sectional disputes dividing the country and closed in 1859.  Only two Unitarian churches remained in the South through the Civil War, one in Charleston, SC and one in New Orleans, LA.

The last Unitarian minister of this church before the Civil War was the Rev John Pierpont, Jr.  His brother, James Lord Pierpont was the organist and also gave organ and singing lessons in the church.   James' famous winter song "One Horse Open Sleigh" was copyrighted in 1857, and re-titled two years later as "Jingle Bells." When the war came, John went home to Boston and James remained here where he married Eliza Jane Purse, daughter of Thomas Purse, mayor of Savannah. James served with the First Georgia Cavalry and wrote music for the Confederacy.  He is buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery. The building was acquired by the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia to be St Stephens' Episcopal Church, the first African-American parish of that faith in Georgia.  It was moved on rollers to its present location, an incredible task for such a building.  The congregation was located in this building until 1947.  

Southern Baptist congregations worshiped here from 1947 until 1997 when the Unitarian Universalist Church of Savannah, formed in 1958, purchased the sanctuary and the four adjacent buildings, reclaiming our ancestral home.  

For more information please follow the links below:
Unitarian Universalist Church Website
Full Text History