|
St. Michael's Episcopal
Church
CHARLESTON
The bells of St. Michael's have crossed the
Atlantic Ocean five times. They came from England in 1784 and
were stolen when theBritish evacuated Charles Town in 1782.
They were returned, however, after the Revolutionary War.
During the Confederate War the bells were taken to Columbia
for safe keeping, and shared the destruction of that city. The
fragments were gathered up and sent to England to the same
foundry where they had originally been cast. The old molds had
been preserved, and the bells, after five times crossing the
Atlantic, still sound the hours and ring out familiar hymns on
Sundays and special days.
The clock in the steeple,
with four dials, began the keeping of Charles Town time in
1784.
St. Michael's is the first offspring of
Charleston's mother church, St. Philip's, and occupies the
site on which the original St. Philip's was built in 1681-2.
The building is of brick and was designed by a Mr. Gibson, a
successor of Sir Christopher Wren. It embodies many of the
features of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London.
Pews in
this church were reserved for both George Washington and
Lafayette upon their visits to Charleston.
An
exceptionally fine wrought iron gate leads from Broad Street
into the graveyard, where we find the graves of many renouned
South Carolinians, including James Louis Petigru, eminent
lawyer, and Robert Y. Hayne, noted statesman.
BY
HAZEL CROWSON SELLERS
South Carolina
Churches |