Tabernacle Church

Tabernacle Church, which split from the First Church of Salem in 1735, has been located on the corner of Washington and Federal streets since 1777. The current church is the third building on that spot. Tabernacle is the trinitarian branch of the oldest Protestant church in the United States, which was organized Congregational in 1629. Tabernacle has the honor of having been the place where the first U.S. American missionaries were commissioned by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions on February 6, 1812. South Church, (also Congregational) established in 1775, merged with Tabernacle Church in 1924. In 1961 Tabernacle Church voted to become a member of the United Church of Christ.

See Also

• Vertical File in Salem Collection -Salem Churches
• "A little church with a large history: volunteer tells the tale of Tabernacle Church" Salem News, Oct. 14, 2008, p. 2.
• 1735-1935: Two hundred years of Tabernacle Church in Salem Nellie Stearns Messer, 1935.
• Salem church with the lighted steeple: a history of Tabernacle Congregational Church 1735-2007... Compiled and edited by Catherine Kirchmier Piemonte, 2008.