|
The deLage Brick
Chapel
NEAR STATEBURG
Probably the most unusual old house of worship
in South Carolina is the tiny de Lage Brick Chapel near
Stateburg. Of red brick, with red tile roof imported from
France, it stands at the end of a narrow dirt road leading
back into the woods and underbrush to the dilapidated Home
House, built by General Sumter for his son, Colonel Thomas
Suniter, Junior, and his French bride, the Countess Natalie de
Lage. The one window and door of the chapel have been sealed
with brick against the plundering of souvenir hunters. As the
Countess was the only Catholic in this section of the state,
General Sumter built this little chapel that she might have a
house of worsliip. She lies buried here beneath the floor on
which long ago she knelt in prayer.
Near the chapel is
the grave of General Thomas Sumter, "Gamecock of the
Revolution", marked by a stone erected by the General Assembly
of South Carolina.
BY
HAZEL CROWSON SELLERS
South Carolina Churches
|