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St. Paul's
Episcopal Church
SUMMERVILLE
There is a feeling of the old and the new when
one enters the little Episcopal church in Summerville. In the
spring the surrounding cemetery is a mass of blooming fragrant flowers.
One cannot help but feel that here is peace for those who
sleep within, and comfort for those who mourn.
The history of St. Paul's
Episcopal Church dates back to 1828 when the Reverend Philip
Gadsden, rector of St. Paul's Church, Stono, took charge. Service was held every Sunday
during the summer at the old village hall, and sometimes at
the residence of Mr. John C. Sclnilz, until August 1, 1830, when the new building was
finished.
The first church was a wooden edifice called
the Stono Church because it was a chapel of ease to St. Paul's
on Stono River near Church Flats.
This little building
stood a few feet south of the present structure, and was used
until April, 1857, when the new church was built at a cost of
$5,000.
The last ceremony
taking place in the old building was a funeral service on the
occasion of the death of Colonel Benjamin Perry, and the first
in the new was the marriage
ceremony of Mr. John Gadsden, both in 1857.
This is not
one of our oldest houses of worship, but it is an offspring of
one of South Carolina's provincial churches and is well worth
a visit.
BY
HAZEL CROWSON SELLERS
South Carolina Churches
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