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Upper
Long Cane Presbyterian Church
ABBEVILLE
COUNTY
About the year 1756 the first Presbyterian
settlement was made in what is now Abbeville County. Two years
later there were twenty to
thirty families in this community, and it was their purpose to
organize a Presbyterian church. They were attacked by the
Cherokee Indians, who killed
some and took others captive. The survivors were scattered and
did not return until 1763. This date is given as the date of establishment of Upper Long
Cane Church.
Ministers coming to this section were
itinerant and they preached in rude log cabins or under the spreading oaks in the
forest.
About 1772, the Reverend John Harris, the first
Presbyterian minister who settled in this district, was
appointed by Orange Presbytery to visit and supply vacancies
in South Carolina, and he served as supply until
1779.
The building of a new house of worship was
commenced about 1813, but was not finished until 1817. "We are
told that all of the framing
was hewn by hand and that the flooring, ceiling, and
weatherboarding were sawed by hand. The frame of this first
building was used for the
present one. There have been improvements made from time to
time, but the original foundation timbers are still
there, and look as if they
might last another century.
It is interesting to note
that the name "Long Cane" has always been a favorite in
Abbeville County. The canes in this section sometimes grow as high as thirty feet, and
tradition has it that the Calhouns exclaimed, "Oh, the long
canes!" And so the name originated.
BY
HAZEL CROWSON SELLERS
South Carolina Churches
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