Location
Other maps: Bing, Google, MapQuest.
Coordinates: 35.6504, -80.6369.
Type: Stop
Tour: Race to the Dan
County: Rowan
Difficult
Pause in front of Thyatira Presbyterian Church at the coordinates to read about the congregation and its museum in the next section. (The church driveway goes straight off White Road where White curves right, coming from NC 150.) Then follow the directions to the cemetery behind it.
Seeing the graves on this page requires traversing typical Piedmont cemetery ground. The church requests that you visit during daylight hours only.
Its museum holds two unique artifacts from the war, but can only be visited on special days or by appointment.
Church Building
Look at the sanctuary.
Founded no later than 1750, Thyatira Church calls itself North Carolina’s “Mother of Presbyterianism” for spawning a number of other congregations. It is the oldest legally documented congregation of any type in the west half of the state. The site of the Revolutionary-era building is visited below. The current one was erected in 1860, is noted for its brickwork, and features some original pews and an upper gallery built for enslaved people.
Museum
Look at the small separate building with a gate, to the left of the sanctuary.
As mentioned under “Location,” the Thyatira Heritage Museum is only open during special events or by appointment. Among items of church and local history are colonial prints of King George III and his wife Queen Charlotte.
