Franklin Cumberland Presbyterian Church

For more than 150 years, the little Cumberland Presbyterian Church has stood along Franklin’s West Main Street, its graceful steeple rising above a town that has changed so much around it.

The congregation began in 1871 with fewer than twenty members, gathering in borrowed spaces until they could build a church of their own. In 1876, townspeople gathered to lay the cornerstone, tucking away coins, newspapers, a Bible, and other keepsakes for future generations. The beautiful Gothic-style sanctuary opened its doors in 1877, complete with handmade wooden pews joined with wooden pegs.

The church has a rather remarkable claim to fame. Its architect, Hugh Cathcart Thompson, would later design Nashville’s legendary Ryman Auditorium, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry. And its musical connections don't end there. Felton Jarvis, Elvis Presley’s record producer, was a devoted member. When Jarvis died in 1981, his funeral was held here, bringing familiar faces from the music world to this quiet Franklin church. A stained-glass window still honors his memory.

The original steeple was lost to a windstorm and replaced in the 1940s, but the church has remained a beloved landmark. At Christmastime, one can imagine the sanctuary glowing with candlelight, familiar carols drifting through the wooden pews, and families gathering on a chilly December evening, just as generations before them might have done.

Through more than a century of Sunday mornings, Christmas services, weddings, and farewells, this charming little church has remained a place where Franklin’s history is not simply remembered, but lived.