John Wesley Monument

Marshall Daugherty’s statue of John Wesley stands in the center of Reynolds Square near the place where Wesley’s parish house once stood. Weekly meetings of the Christ Church congregation were hold in the small wooden house. According to Wesley, "The first rise of Methodism was in 1729 when four of us met together at Oxford. The second was at Savannah in 1736 when twenty or thirty persons met at my house."

Dedicated in 1969, the monument consists of a stepped and blocked rectangular granite pedestal, inscribed on all sides, supporting a bronze statue of John Wesley. Wesley is depicted as a young man wearing his Church of England vestments. According to the sculptor, "The monument is as he looks up from his Bible toward his congregation, about to speak and stretching out his right hand in love, invitation and exhortation. In contrast, the hand holding the Bible is intense and powerful-the point of contact with the Almighty."

Wesley got his start in Savannah as Oglethorpe's secretary, then as the rector of Christ Church. He and his brother were eventually sent back to England.