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The Baptist
Church
BEAUFORT
The Beaufort Baptist Church is a pleasing
example of Classic Revival architecture. The exterior,
finished in white stucco, is beautifully proportioned, and the
wooden steeple is unusual. The interior is richly decorated
with finely modeled ornamental plaster.
The church was
organized about 1780, and the present building was erected in
1844. In 1857 the slave membership was 3,317, while white
members numbered only 182.
During the Confederate War
this building was used as a hospital.
In 1811 the
congregation split and the withdrawing members built
Tabernacle Church on St. Helena's Island. A reunion was
shortly afterward effected and the Tabernacle Church was used
for evening services, later being sold to a congregation of
Negro Baptists.
In the churchyard are graves of early
members of the congregation, among them being that of Julia
Baker, poetess and author of "Mizpnh".
BY
HAZEL CROWSON SELLERS
South Carolina Churches
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