Savannah was founded as a Church of England settlement, and its center of religious life was this church—the first one established in the colony in 1733. As a result, it is known as the “Mother Church of Georgia.” The third and present building on this site was designed by James H. Cooper in Greek Revival style and was consecrated in 1840. The church was nearly destroyed by fire in 1898, but was rebuilt within its original walls. Famous clergy in the history of this church include John Wesley (1736) and George Whitehead (1738). The first Sunday school conducted in Georgia was held here, and the first hymnal in English was published here. The current assistant rector, the Rev. Julia Sierra Wilkinson, became the first woman and the first African-American priest in the history of the parish in 2012. The 1819 Revere Bell is one of the rarest in the country. The bell bears this ominous engraving: “the living to the church i call, and to the grave i summon all.”