Cheshunt College

Cheshunt College was founded as Trevecca College in South Wales by the Countess of Huntingdon (1707-1791) as a theological school based on the ministry of George Whitefield (1714-1770). In 1791, upon the death of the countess, the Cheshunt College Trustees moved the college to Cheshunt in Hertford, England, and changed its name. In 1905 the college was again moved, this time to Cambridge. It merged with Westminster College in 1967. The Reverend George Whitefield founded the Bethesda Orphan Home in Savannah, Georgia, in 1740. During the last years of his life, Whitefield attempted to add a theological college, Bethesda College, to the orphanage. However, the new school was never securely established. Through his will, Whitefield bequeathed the school and lands to the Countess of Huntingdon. The executor of his estate, James Habersham (1715-1775), acted as the Countess' manager in Savannah until his death. By the end of the Revolutionary War, the countess had died and the property was confiscated. The orphanage continued to run through the state until it was destroyed in a fire in the early nineteenth century. The state sold the land at public auction and the school and orphanage were disbanded. In 1854, the Union Society of Savannah bought most of the original Whitefield estate and rebuilt Bethesda. By 1855 the Bethesda Orphan Home was again established and continues to run as the Bethesda Home for Boys.