Old Sheldon Church Ruins

Sheldon Church Ruins

Sheldon Church Ruins
Location Beaufort County, South Carolina, USA
Nearest city Yemassee, South Carolina
Coordinates 32°37′6.7″N 80°46′49.7″W / 32.618528°N 80.780472°W / 32.618528; -80.780472Coordinates: 32°37′6.7″N 80°46′49.7″W / 32.618528°N 80.780472°W / 32.618528; -80.780472
Area 4.5 acres (1.8 ha)
Built 1753
Architect Unknown
Architectural style Greek Revival
NRHP Reference #

70000562

[1]
Added to NRHP October 22, 1970

The Old Sheldon Church Ruins is a historic site located in northern Beaufort County, South Carolina, approximately 17 miles (30 km) north of Beaufort in the Sheldon area.[2][3]

History

Known also as the Sheldon Church or Old Sheldon Church, the building was originally known as Prince William's Parish Church. The church was built as a chapel of ease in the English Georgian style, using the Roman Tuscan or Doric order, between 1745 and 1753. Prince William's was burned by the British in 1779 during the Revolutionary War. In 1826 it was rebuilt. The following is from an article in the April 1969 Sandlapper Magazine by Charles E. Thomas, “The Picturesque Ruins Of Old Sheldon Church”. “The official South Carolina report on the “Destruction of Churches and Church Property,” after the War Between the States, described Sheldon’s second burning: “All that was combustible was consumed..., its massive walls survive the last as they did the former conflagration,” Bishop Thomas wrote, “Exactly as it happened a hundred years before in 1779, when General Prevost, marching from Savannah into South Carolina burned the Church, so now in February 1865, General Sherman marching from Georgia into South Carolina, burned it a second time.”

An alternative view has more recently come to light, however. In a letter dated February 3, 1866,[4] Miton Leverett wrote that "Sheldon Church not burn't. Just torn up in the inside, but can be repaired." The inside of the church was apparently gutted to reuse materials to rebuild homes burnt by Sherman's army.

Today

In 2012

The ruins lie amongst majestic oaks and scattered graves. Inside the ruins of the church lies the remains of Colonel William Bull, who "greatly assisted General Oglethorpe in establishing the physical layout of Savannah, Georgia. Bull surveyed the land in 1733 to form the basic grid pattern of the streets and squares." Today the ruins have proven to be a popular site in the Lowcountry for photographers and wedding ceremonies in contemporary times. As of October 2015, the Old Sheldon ruins are not available to the public for hosting wedding ceremonies, however an annual service is held the second Sunday after Easter.

References

  1. ↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ McGrath, Dollie; Mary P. Powell; Colin Brooker (August 5, 1970). "Sheldon Church Ruins" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  3. ↑ "Sheldon Church Ruins, Beaufort County (U.S. Hwy. 21, Gardens Corner vicinity)". National Register Properties in South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  4. ↑ Taylor, Francis (2000). The Leverett Letters: Correspondence of a South Carolina Family, 1851-1868. University of South Carolina Press. pp. 403, 405. ISBN 1570033331.
Inside the Old Sheldon Church Ruins, November 2015


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