Francis Asbury's First Visit to S.C.

Front: Francis Asbury (1745-1816), pioneer bishop of American Methodism, came to Cheraw in 1785, on his first visit to S.C. Asbury had just been ordained a superintendent at the first General Conference in Baltimore on December 27, 1784. He was on his way to Charleston with Revs. Woolman Hickson, Jesse Lee, and Henry Willis. They crossed the Great Pee Dee River and arrived in Cheraw on February 17, 1785. Reverse: Asbury’s party spent the night with a merchant here, a Methodist. Their host’s clerk told Rev. Jesse Lee (1758-1816) that his native New England needed circuit riders to preach the gospel there. He so impressed Lee with his earnestness that Lee established churches from Connecticut to Maine. Asbury and his party spent “some time” in prayer here at St. David’s Episcopal Church before continuing south.