Adamstown Church
| Adamstown Church | |
|---|---|
Adamstown Church | |
| 25°03′59″S 130°06′01″W / 25.06626°S 130.10033°W | |
| Location | Adamstown |
| Country | Pitcairn Islands |
| Denomination | Seventh-day Adventist |
The Adamstown Church,[1] or alternatively Adamstown Adventist Church,[2] is a religious building affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, located in the town of Adamstown[3] in the Pitcairn Islands, a dependent territory of the United Kingdom in Oceania, at an isolated end of the Pacific Ocean.
History
There has been an Adventist presence in the Pitcairn Islands since 1890 and at a time, almost every inhabitant was an Adventist.[4] The church was constructed around the same time as the Adventists landing after news got back to California in the United States, that the Pitcairn Islanders were receptive to Adventism.[5] The building is located on the main street called "The Square".[6] The church is unique in the entire island of Pitcairn[7] (the only inhabited island of the archipelago) and is the product of a mission sent by American Seventh-Day Adventists who converted almost all of the small number of inhabitants of the island from the Church of England to that Protestant denomination.[4]
In front of the church is a bell that was traditionally rung with the shout of "sail ho!" whenever a ship was sighted from the island.[8] A later Pitcairn Islands law was passed by 1940 that ruled that anyone who falsely called "sail ho!" from the church without a ship being in sight would be fined 5 shillings.[9]
In 2001, due to a decrease in church attendance in the Pitcairn Islands, the Adventist Church in New Zealand's executive committee voted to downgrade Adamstown Church from an officially recognised Adventist church into a company but granted adherents the right to affiliate to other Adventist churches if they wished.[10]
See also
References
- ^ Stanley, David (1 January 1999). South Pacific Handbook. David Stanley. p. 286. ISBN 9781566911726.
Pitcairn - Church of Adamstown.
- ^ Ford, Herbert (14 March 2012). Pitcairn Island as a Port of Call: A Record, 1790-2010, 2d ed. McFarland. ISBN 9780786488223.
- ^ Pitcairn Islands: Country Study Guide: Strategic Information and Developments. Int'l Business Publications. 9 September 2009. ISBN 9781438791791.
- ^ a b "Turning Point for Historic Adventist Community on Pitcairn Island". Adventist News. 28 May 2001. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
- ^ Presser, Brandon (2022). The Far Land. Public Affairs. ISBN 9781541758599.
- ^ Haigh, Bill. "Pitcairn Islands". www.government.pn. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
- ^ McKinnon, Rowan (1 January 2009). South Pacific. Lonely Planet. ISBN 9781741047868.
- ^ Casey, Robert Joseph (1931). Easter Island. Bobbs-Merrill Company. p. 79.
- ^ "Pitcairn Islands Study Center". Pacific Union College. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
- ^ Kirk, Robert (2008). Pitcairn Island, the Bounty Mutineers, and Their Descendants. McFarland & Company. p. 221. ISBN 9780786434718.