“E” is for Ebenezer Colony. Founded in 1734, Ebenezer was twenty-five miles up the Savannah River on the Georgia side. This unique settlement of Lutheran refugees from Salzburg, Austria, was included in the Lutheran Synod of South Carolina until 1860. Its early inhabitants caught the imagination of many on both sides of the Atlantic because of their courage under persecution, their industry, and their piety. The extensive diaries and correspondence of several Lutheran pastors associated with Ebenezer shed light on the nearby German settlements in South Carolina. The settlement's pastors regularly sent sermons and devotional literature to South Carolina Lutherans. The Salzburgers, however, criticized their Carolina neighbors for being more intent on economic gain than a life of pious discipleship. George Whitefield characterized the Ebenezer colony as the land of Goshen in the midst of Egypt.
“E” is for Ebenezer Colony
