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South Carolina
Churches
BY HAZEL CROWSON SELLERS
WITH AN
INTRODUCTION BY CHAPMAN J. MILLING
CROWSON PRINTING
COMPANY, Publishers
Columbia, South Carolina 1941
FOR MY
CHILDREN JUNE ELIZABETH and WILLIAM
ERNEST
Foreword
In this collection of Old Churches
of South Carolina I have included only those built before the
Confederate War. Many of our oldest church organizations will
not be found in this group because the buildings have been
destroyed.
One shown here has since been taken down,
and the waters of the Santee will soon cover the spot where
for a century it stood.
Another, among our oldest, in
Chester County, was burned in this year before I made a sketch
of it. Every year finds one or more of our old church
buildings gone.
I wish to make a special acknowledgment
to South Carolina, a Guide to the Palmetto State, a recent
Government publication, which has proved invaluable to me in
locating these historic landmarks.
The principal sources
whence the materials for the following work are drawn are:
Frederick Dalcho's Historical Account of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in South Carolina; Prince William's Parish
and Plantations by John R. Todd and Francis M. Hutson; The
Diocese of South Carolina, by Marie H. Heyward; Landmarks of
Charleston, by Thomas Petigru Lesesne; History of The
Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, by George Howe, D. D.;
History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Since
1850, by F. D. Jones, D. D. and W. H. M'lls, D. D.; the
records belonging to some of the churches; pamphlets published
by others, and information from old inhabitants.
I take
this opportunity to offer my thanks to Mr. Francis M. Hutson
of the Historical Commission of South Carolina, who has helped
me much; to Dr. Chapman J. Milling who has written the
introduction. Miss Margaret Crawford Risher who has assisted
materially in the preparation of the manuscript, and to Mr.
and Mrs. J. T. Gittman for their kind interest and valuable
advice.
Hazel Crowson Sellers. Burlington, North
Carolina, December, 1941.
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Introduction
Several years ago, accompanied by
a venerable family retainer, I stood in the cemetery of one of
Charleston's fine old churches.
Looking up from the
spot where the mortal part of "Ole Miss'' had been returned to
the vine-covered earth, the eyes of my companion rested upon
the sanctuary where she, herself, had worshiped long
ago.
"Dat a ole chu'ch, ain't it?", he
inquired.
"Pretty old, Sam; well over a hundred
years."
The old fellow reflected a moment.
"Seem like
de people here mns' like it dat-a-way. I bet dey
ain't gwine tear it down."
What a wealth of noble old
churches we would have in South Carolina today if the majority
of white people had shared his philosophy, and that of this
discerning congregation!
Programs of expansion,
ambitious preachers. Babbitt-minded church officers, rash bond
issues, mammoth Sunday school buildings, all have contributed
to the destruction of century-old houses of worship and the
unfortunate thing about it is that most of the new structures
were erected during a period when American architecture had
reached its all time low. It is also unfortunate that this
very period seems to have coincided with one of financial
inflation and high cost of both labor and building material
with a resulting debt which has all but ruined many once
solvent congregations.
From the earliest known times
South Carolina has had churches. Its first temples were the
"townhouses" of the hospitable Indians who, with drums and
dancing, worshiped the Great Spirit. Who is there able to
prove that their barbaric adoration was less acceptable to Him
than the more formal praises of the race which succeeded
them?
Relative to these townhouses there are many
references in the chronicles of the old travelers, explorers
and Indian traders. They were generally built on elevated
ground, often on the top of a large artificial mound. They
were immense structures, having, according to Timber-lake,
"all the appearance of a small mountain at a little distance."
Their plan was a triumph of primitive architecture and
engineering. Massive pillars, placed in concentric circles
which rose gradually toward the center, formed the supports
for a framework of smaller timbers which was overlaid with
earth or sod. In the interior was an earthen altar within
which burned a perpetual fire, emblematic of the Deity. Such a
townhouse was at once the sanctuary, the temple of justice,
the council house and the community center. Hut. they are gone
forever, as are the worshippers who once "danced the old
joyful dances" within them.
The earliest Christian
churches in South Carolina were the mission stations of the
Spanish Catholic friars. For a century and a half the good
brothers of one or another order strove to convert the Cusabo
tribes of the coastal region. In spite of great discouragement
there was some mission activity within the present limits of
South Carolina until shortly before the settlement of the
English at Charles Town. Perhaps the coup de
grace dealt the Spanish missions was the arrival of
the strange Westo Indians, who, possessed of firearms which
they presumably bought from the Virginia traders, poured
devastation upon the Cusabo towns.
The English settlers
who founded Charles Town brought with them an unique
constitution prepared especially for the Lords Proprietors by
no less a person than the great English philosopher, John
Locke. This document provided for almost complete freedom of
worship. Although the Church of England was recognized as the
Established Church, membership in any other religious body was
no bar to suffrage or the holding of office. In fact the Earl
of Shaftesbury, greatest of the Lords Proprietors, was himself
the leader of the Separatist faction in England and had long
been identified with the cause of the non-conformists or
dissenters. There were several others of like opinion among
the Proprietors, including John Archdale, a Quaker, and Joseph
Blake, both of whom also served as governor. Dissenters,
during the early years of the settlement constituted,
according to the Reverend Edward Marston, rector of St.
Philips, "the soberest, most numerous and richest people of
this Province."
What is generally called the church
issue of the early eighteenth century is now an almost
forgotten story. "With the accession of Queen Anne, the Tory
party in England gained rapidly in power. Among its
traditional principles was a belief in church establishment in
fact as well as in name. Soon an ambitious Tory element in
Charles Town, by a majority of one vote in the Commons House
of Assembly, secured the passage of an act prohibiting anyone
not belonging or subscribing to Hie Church of England from
becoming a member of the Provincial Legislature. This, the
Church Act of 1704, was publicly protested by many of the
leading men of the province. The dissenters petitioned the
Lords Proprietors for redress, alleging that the members of
the Assembly who had passed the act had been elected by
methods of a most questionable nature. Their petition
fell on deaf ears, since Lord Granville, the Palatine, was
personally a zealous Tory and in favor of the act's strict
enforcement, despite the fact that two of his fellow
proprietors were dissenters. It required a second petition,
this time through the Lords of Trade to the Queen herself, to
secure relief. The ultimate repeal of the act, two years
later, was only a partial victory for the dissenters, since
new laws were enacted, which, while less severe, recognized
the establishment of the Episcopal Church and provided for the
division of the province into ten parishes, with public
support of the ministers.
Many interesting sidelights
upon this old controversy might be presented did space permit.
From the pulpit of the White Meeting House the Reverend
Archibald Stobo thundered his Scotch indignation in three hour
sermons. But strangely enough, the most violent opponent of
the Church Act and the dissenters' most vociferous champion
was none other than the Reverend Edward Marston, the fearless
rector of St. Philips. Mr. Marston declared that many members
of the assembly who had voted for the passage of the act were
"constant absentees from the church and eleven of them were
never known to receive the Lord's supper." This statement and
others of a similar nature cost Mr. Marston the loss of his
living at the hands of a board of twenty lay commissioners,
empowered by the Assembly to remove or discipline
unsympathetic ministers.
Throughout the controversy the
Huguenot element, although of Calvinistic faith and practice,
voted and sided with the Church party. They can scarcely be
blamed, since neither Governors Ludwell, Smith, nor Archdale
had been able to protect them from persecution and
discrimination at the hands of their English neighbors, who,
characteristically, resented the prosperity of these
French-speaking "foreigners". Suddenly, now, they were being
wooed and given a feeling of security and importance.
Furthermore, although theologically Calvinists, these
light-hearted French settlers had little else in common with
the dour English Puritans or the equally dour Scotch
Presbyterians. Baptists they probably regarded with suspicion
and Quakers with amusement. Long unrepresented in the
Assembly, they had at last been given the ballot. It is easy
to visualize a political "understanding". Whatever their
reasons they voted with the Church party almost to a man, at
least those of Craven County did so, and that was where most
of them lived. In 1706 the French congregations, with the
exception of the one in Charles Town, were taken bodily into
the Episcopal fold.
With the establishment of the
parish system the dissenters became discouraged. Many left the
province never to return. Others, particularly the young and
ambitious, having grown tired of politico-ecclesiastical rows,
found their way into the Established Church.
It was
after all the doorway to political and social
preferment.
Old animosities of the times have long been
forgotten, but this brief resume has been necessary to explain
how a section once preponderantly non-conformist became in a
generation a stronghold of the Church of England, and why most
of the present day descendants of Huguenots are
Episcopalians.
No attempt has been made in this
introduction to trace, or even to outline, the church history
of South Carolina. It is, however, a
fascinating pursuit to note the different religious elements
which settled the province, and to detect, even at this late
date, the distinctive flavor which each element has added to
the local culture. The result, looking at the present state as
a whole, is a mosaic rather than a blend. In a particular
county or section will be represented every one of the leading
denominations, yet one element, often numerically small, will
typify the regional culture at its best.
We have seen
that in the early days of the province the dissenters equalled
the Episcopalians in numbers and influence if they did not, in
fact, predominate. We have also seen that within a generation
the leadership passed into the hands of the Established
Church.
It was inevitable, that, in the years which
followed, the Episcopal Church should set the pattern for most
of the territory in the tidewater region. This does not mean
that all the leading people became Episcopalians, for many
dissenting congregations remained in a flourishing condition,
especially in Charleston, on Edisto Island and in Prince
William's Parish. It resulted, however, in Episcopal mores
being the accepted rules of social conduct, even among most of
those outside the Episcopal fold. The tolerant attitude toward
"worldly" matters, the love of good living, the warm
hospitality (toward the proper people), the natural charm and
easy self-assurance which typify Low Country manners derive,
in the main, from the Church of England. Certainly all of
these qualities may be found, say, in an Edisto Island
Presbyterian, but there can be little ground for contesting
the proposition that they are traditionally associated with
the Episcopal rather than the Calvinistic philosophy of
life.
The Up Country, on the other hand, was for the
most part settled by dissenters who chose to remain
dissenters. Even though thousands of the descendants of the
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians forsook the Gospel according to
John Calvin for the newer doctrines of Smith or Wesley, they
were still dissenters. Suspicious of everything remotely
associated with Catholicism, they either kept the stern faith
of the Covenanters or exchanged it for another no less
disapproving of hierarchy and ritual. Prior to the Revolution
the population above the fall line was overwhelmingly
Presbyterian. Remote from the parish churches of the
tidewater, and dependent largely upon their own efforts to
wrest a living from the wilderness, these pioneers of the back
districts clung firmly to their belief in the two-fisted God
of Joshua and David, the warrior God who directed the sac of
Jericho and the destruction of the Amalekites.
Such a
philosophy had its good points. No more fearless soldiers ever
lived than those who fought at Cowpens and King's Mountain. If
the backwoodsmen feared God this was about the only fear tjiey
ever experienced. Somehow their hatred of hierarchy developed
in the Scotch-Irish a fierce sense of independence which
became their most striking trait. They resented interference
from any outside source and cherished their liberties to a
degree second only to their concern for their immortal souls.
This sentiment is reflected today in the feeling of large
groups of their descendants toward Federal agents whose duty
requires them to poke inquisitively around mountain coves or
wooded creek bottoms.
The Up Country Calvinists
developed a culture characterized by a calm, almost fatalistic
acceptance of life and all its mysteries, including death, a
practical sense of the realities of this world and an
unquestioning belief in both the rewards and punishments to be
expected in the world to come. They were proud, independent,
charitable though thrifty, a trifle intolerant toward people
having a different religion, a different philosophy or a
different form of government. They were willing, at least
their leaders were, to make great sacrifices for the sake of
education. They demanded an educated ministry even though this
meant that they were to lose large numbers to denominations
requiring a less exacting standard. There simply were not
enough Presbyterian preachers to go around.
Naturally,
as their wealth increased, they took on other traits.
Education beyond the confines of their own districts and the
arrival among them of Low Country families, resulted in a
mutual respect and an exchange of ideas and loyalties. In
certain areas an almost perfectly blended culture has
resulted, as in Fairfield, Edgefield and Pendleton in the Up
Country and in much of the territory nearer the middle of the
state.
Here the best of the Up Country and the best of
the Low have mingled to bring about a type which is happier
and more tolerant than was originally present in the one, and,
at the same time is more vigorous, democratic and independent
than was typical of the other.
The influence of the
Lutheran Church in those portions of the province settled by
the Swiss and Germans cannot be dismissed. This culture at its
best is typified by Newberry, Lexington and part of Richland
counties. The German settlers were thrifty farmers as are
their descendants today. In general they did not object to
work, kept their yards clean, their fences painted and their
business to themselves. They are directly responsible for some
of the finest food in South Carolina. While barbecue was, of
course, an Indian dish, the Germans of the Dutch Fork
perfected its preparation to the proportions of a ritual and
its flavor to something fit for the gods of Valhalla. When one
thinks of good fat sausage, liver pudding, scrapple,
sauerkraut, and sweetâ€â€but not too sweet cider, he may
thank his stars and the jolly "Dutchmen" of Saxa Gotha and
Amelia townships.
In discussing the culture traits of
the above and subsequent groups, I am using the word culture
in its ethnological sense, and attempting the perilous task of
linking a variety of traits in each instance with what I
regard as the dominant religious element.
What of the
Baptists and Methodists, who are unquestionably far more
numerous than all the above combined? I have already attempted
to show that the Presbyterians, having settled the Up Country
first, to a large extent set the pattern. According to my
interpretation, with which many readers will no doubt differ,
the culture of a considerable portion of the Piedmont is still
chiefly derived from Presbyterian influence. There are large
areas, of course, where the dominant religion has been either
Baptist or Methodist for so long a time that these churches
have superimposed additional traits, or have even so radically
altered the underlying stratum as to have created a virtually
new pattern. I feel that this is especially true toward the
mountains, where the people have a penchant for emotional
revivals and a prejudice against legal whiskey.
Little
has been said regarding the Middle Country, that broad belt of
pine covered ridges and fertile river basins lying between the
fall line and the tidal marshlands. Geographically it is a
part of the Low Country, but here, as in the Piedmont, there
is sometimes a blended culture, more often a
mosaic.
The earliest settlers on the Peedee River were
Welsh Baptists, who were soon joined by English and Huguenot
Episcopalians and the proudest of the Scotch-Irish. This
explosive mixture, after a few threatening ebullitions,
simmered down into a very satisfactory brew which has resulted
in some excellent end-products.
Much of the same sort
of blending occurred farther west along the Santee and
Wateree, with the Welsh omitted from the formula.
Between the Santee and the Savannah substitute German and
Swiss Lutherans for Welsh Baptists and you have a third
sub-type in which the Lutheran religion has largely
disappeared, with Methodism emerging as the culturally
dominant sect.
The Methodist circuit riders and the
early Baptist evangelists did their work well. In every
community, whatever the religion of the pioneers, these
denominations have large and flourishing churches. Both have
added, wherever they went, to the culture elements already
present.
It cannot be overemphasized that we have been
dealing in generalities. There is, of course, no such
actuality as a Baptist town, a Methodist community, a
Presbyterian or Episcopal city, county or section. Church
culture, as I have been attempting to define it, often fails
to achieve a perfect blend even in the individual. I know
plenty of Presbyterians who ought to lie Baptists and several
Baptists who would make excellent Episcopalians, but granting
all this, the various churches have exercised a tremendous
influence on the lives of South Carolinians.
Our
fathers, whatever their particular shade of belief, took God
rather seriously. Their noblest efforts were directed toward
the act of worship. They built their churches of the finest
materials at hand, and into their erection went all the skill
they could summon. Many of these old temples are still
standing; many others have long since been
destroyed.
It is fitting that those which remain should
be recorded in pictures for posterity. Hazel Crowson Sellers
began this labor of love as a part of her cherished work with
a woman's club. Having published a successful volume of
sketches of the old churches of North Carolina, her adopted
state, she voluntarily assumed the task, and the
responsibility, of drawing those of her native state. How well
she has succeeded may best be demonstrated by a perusal of
this book. Into the work has gone sincere tenderness and a
love of her task. I think she has caught the spirit which
actuated the building of these fine old houses of
God.
Choice has, of course, been a matter of individual
taste. Some churches may have been omitted which another
author might have felt better to include. But a limit had to
be set somewhere. In general she has chosen the oldest, the
most historic or the most beautiful, where beauty combines
with age and importance.
An historical sketch
accompanies each drawing. In some instances the information
may appear meagre. No one who has not himself engaged in
historic research knows how difficult it is to gather material
of this kind. Mrs. Sellers has often been forced to depend
upon obscure records and sometimes, alas, upon tradition,
which as every historian is aware, has all the reliability of
a first class fairy story.
But in spite of great
difficulties she has gathered an immense amount of information
and has presented it in a style as charmingly direct as are
the sketches themselves.
Such a book has long been
needed, and the people of South Carolina or those whose roots
reach back to South Carolina soil, and who love the Palmetto
State and its history, whether church members or otherwise,
owe Mrs. Sellers abundant thanks.
Chapman J.
Milling. |