Phase I Churches and Cemeteries
Biggin Church
Listed in the National Register
Biggin Church was built as a Parish Church in 1711. When it burned in a 1761 fire, it was replaced with a new building. Its members in this era included Henry Laurens and William Moultrie. During the Revolutionary War British troops used the church as a depot. As they retreated, the church and stores were burned in 1781. The rebuilt church was an active place of worship unitl the Civil War. In the late 1800s the church was again burned in a forest fire and not rebuilt. After the fire, its bricks were scavenged for other construction projects.
Mepkin Abbey
Listed in the National Register
Mepkin Abbey was formed in 1949 when Henry and Clare Booth Luce, wishing to dispose of their Berkeley County holdings, donated 3,200 acres to create the Catholic Monastery. Historically known as Mepkin Plantation, the land was the home of Henry Laurens, a Founding Father and the country's largest slave trader. Mr. Laurens is buried at his beloved Mepkin, as are members of his family. Also buried on the land are the Black men, women, and children who worked the rice and indigo fields from the colonial days to the Civil War. The monks are actively searching for these burials.
Taveau Church
Listed in the National Register
Built in 1835 as a Presbyterian church by Martha Caroline Swinton Ball Taveau, upon her death in 1847 the church became the worship home of Black Methodists. While it is likely that the ministers who led the worship services were Methodist Circuit Riders based in Charleston, like so much of Taveau's history, little is known for sure. What is known is that a WPA report in the late 1930s noted that "the Negros were proud of the age of their church." Taveau, which was closed by the United Methodist Conference in 1974 is now being restored but additional funding is needed to complete the work.
Strawberry Chapel
Listed in the National Register
James Child, founder of Childsbury Town on the Cooper River in St. John’s Berkeley Parish, bequeathed the land for the chapel. The building was complete by 1725. In addition to inhabitants of Childsbury, Strawberry Chapel served families from prosperous Cooper River rice plantations. The churchyard contains a special enclosure for the Ball family. The elaborate kinship network of the Balls included people of other names as well, and Strawberry Chapel is a symbol of family continuity in the area.
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-Suzanne Linder
The South Carolina Encyclopedia
Holy Comforter Reformed Episcopal
After the Civil War and for decades to follow, the mainstream Episcopal Church did not allow the ordination of qualified Black men to the ministry. Two white Episcopal ministers, Peter F. Stevens and Benjamin Johnson, left that denomination to join the newly organized Reformed Episcopal Church. There, the ordained the African American men into ministry, beginning in the Pineville and Moncks Corner area. Holy Comforter Reformed Episcopal Church organized ca. 1875.
