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Newport Historical Society (NHS) houses the first Seventh-Day Baptist church in America. In 1671, Stephen Mumford led a small group of First Baptist to establish this church. In 1884, the NHS bought the Seventh-Day Baptists’ 1730 wooden chapel. In 1915, the NHS moved the elegant chapel from Barney Street to the rear of their headquarters, at 82 Touro Street. Here, Read more...
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Samuel Davies was born in Delaware, trained in Pennsylvania, and at 23 years of age, a missionary to Virginia. He was a “New Light” Presbyterian (like George Whitfield) that taught salvation by grace alone, thru a personal conversion that resulted in a Romans 12:2 transformation. He arrived in Hanover County, Virginia, and took Samuel Morris’ reading houses (such as we Read more...
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From Wikipedia: Hanover County Courthouse is a historic courthouse located in the community of Hanover Courthouse, the county seat of Hanover County, Virginia. Built about 1735, it is one of the nation’s oldest courthouses still in use for that purpose. It is historically notable as the site of the Parson’s Cause case, which was argued by Patrick Henry in 1763. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973.[2] A modern Read more...
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From Plaque: Scotchtown is best known as the site from which Patrick Henry rode to Richmond in March of 1775 to deliver his infamous “Liberty or Death” speech. . Some have even suggested that the house, where he had been forced to confine his wife Sarah due to her increasingly poor mental health, inspired his greatest speech. But the Read more...
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John Lathrop, the second pastor of London’s J-L-J Church, immigrated to Barnstable, where his house, built in 1644, still stands as part of the Sturgis Library, at 3090 Main Street. Here, one can stand in the room that once served as Lathrop’s meetinghouse. On display is Lathrop’s copy of the Scriptures – a 1605 Bishops’ Bible. See the section, “John Read more...
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Home of the composer Joseph Philbrick Webster, who wrote the music for the song “In the Sweet By and By” There’s a land that is fairer than day, And by faith we can see it afar; For the Father waits over the way To prepare us a dwelling place there. Refrain: In the sweet by and by, We shall Read more...
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Learn from Tim Schmig about the multiple references to God in the Jefferson Memorial: Below the frieze on the dome I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man The Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, Read more...
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Site of one of the most famous trials in the 20th Century, featuring Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. My first visit to the Scopes Trial Museum proved unsuccessful. It was the Christmas season and the County Executive ordered the building closed early for the day. So I took some pictures outside – the statues of William Jennings Bryan and Read more...
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The University of Chicago was founded (and funded) by John D. Rockefeller, the oil baron. He spent millions digging up artifacts all over the Middle East, and floated much of it back to Chicago. The Oriental Institute collection contains over 300,000 items. In the first sections, look for artifacts from Ur – Abraham lived in Ur from 2166 BC to Read more...
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Born in Edinburg, PA, to a Methodist family, Ira Sankey (1840-1908) loved music from an early age. At 16 he was saved at the King’s Chapel revival meetings. At 21 he volunteered for the Union in the Civil War. At 23, he married Fanny Edward, and later became president of the New Castle YMCA. In 1870, Sankey came to Indianapolis Read more...