Saint James Episcopal Church

Front: Saint James Church began in 1720 as a chapel of ease serving the James Island section of St. Andrews Anglican Parish. Rev. William Guy led meetings in a local house until a formal place of worship was built around 1722. It was destroyed in 1730 and replaced by a second church that stood until around the time of the American Revolution. The adjacent cemetery dates to at least 1769. Reverse: Saint James became part of the Protestant Episcopal Church in S.C. after its 1785 reorganization from the Church of England. In the 1830s the church was attended by around 17 free white families and a number of enslaved African Americans. After long post-Civil War stagnation, Saint James grew significantly in the mid-20th century. The sixth and current church was built in 1960.