St. Paul's Stono

Front: St. Paul’s Parish, one of the ten original parishes of colonial S.C., was created by the Church Act of 1706. The first parish church was built in 1708 on a bluff overlooking the Stono River. The parsonage and outbuildings were destroyed during the Yamasee War of 1715. After St. John’s Colleton Parish was created in 1734, a new parish church for St. Paul’s was built 8 mi. NW in 1736. Reverse: Foundation ruins and a few graves are all that remain of the first St. Paul’s, Stono. Robert Seabrook (1652-1710), buried here, served as high sheriff of Colleton County in 1698; as a captain of militia in 1706; and as a member of the Commons House of Assembly 1706-09, serving as Speaker in 1706. His wife Sarah (d. 1715) and their son Benjamin (d. 1717) are also buried here.