St. Paul's Parish Church

Front: This is the second site of St. Paul’s Parish Church, erected here in 1736 as a chapel of ease for the first parish church, built 8 mi. SE on the Stono River. Est. 1706, St. Paul’s was one of the ten original Anglican parishes of colonial S.C. The parish built the brick chapel here at “Beech Hill” after the creation of St. John’s, Colleton Parish. It fell to ruin in the 1770s. The foundation remains. Reverse: A new wooden parish church was built near the old chapel in 1812 and was the first S.C. Episcopal church to be consecrated after the denomination separated from the Church of England. During the Civil War, the church housed a C.S.A. commissary. It was abandoned around the same time, after years of declining membership. The church no longer stands, but the cemetery continues to be used.