Georgetown Lutheran Church, Washington D.C.

The Georgetown Lutheran Church is one of the oldest Lutheran congregations in the United States, and is the oldest Lutheran Church in Washington, D.C. You would have to travel a long way to a place like the Holy Trinity Church in Delaware to find much more history for the followers of Martin Luther.

The church was built in 1769. The original German immigrants that founded it came to the Potomac Valley to become farmers, and were enticed to settle here by offers of inexpensive land (made possible by Lord Baltimore).

The congregation itself was served for many years by itinerate preachers of the German Lutheran Church. The group officially formed into a church in 1766. Colonel Charles Beatty donated the land for the first building. The church was erected at the corner of Fourth and High Street, with its cornerstone laid in 1769.

Despite four revisions that this church had gone through over the centuries, it managed to retain a great deal of history to it, which is well worth seeing. The old bell from the church, which was given away in the 1870s, now sits in the front yard after being salvaged from a junk yard in 1937.