Will continue to add to these databases as information
becomes available. Thanks...
Jerri Lynne

 

St. Philip's Church

St. Philip's Episcopal Church is located at 146 Church Street and is
the oldest congregation in Charleston. The original church stood at the
corner of Meeting and Broad Street.
The first church on this site was
built from 1710-1723. That building caught fire in 1796, but was saved
by an alert black boatman, who was granted his freedom for this heroic
deed. In 1835, the structure was once again struck by fire, only this time
it was destoryed. It was replaced by the present structure we see today.
For many years a light in its steeple guided ships into port. During the Civil
War, the bells were donated to the Confederacy for cannons.
The churchyard of St. Philip's is divided into two sections_the Eastern and
Western churchyards. In 1768, the Western graveyard (opposite the church) was
set aside for burial of "strangers and other transient whites." Some say that
to be buried in the Eastern churchyard, one had to be born in Charleston.

St. Philip's Parsonage_Glebe Lands
 In 1698, Mrs. Affra Coming,wife of the late Henry Coming made a deed of
gift of 17 acres to the Minister of the Church of England in Charles Town, and
his successors in office. It was called the Glebe Lands ( in English law a glebe is any
land belonging to, or recieving revenue to, a parish church or to a church benefice,
such as a rectory).
St. Philip's Parsonage was built on the Glebe Lands. The Rev. Alexander Garden
who arrived in Charles Town in 1719, was the rector of St. Philip's and the
representative of the Bishop of London. In 1744, with contributions from local
people and from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in London,
Commissionary Garden established a school for black and Indian children on the
Glede Lands near St. Philip's Parsonage. It was taught by two black youths,
Andrew and Harry(Henry), under the rector's supervision, and continued to
operate for twenty-two years until Andrew died and Harry "turned out
profligate" the school was closed.
 

This page was last revised on 9/09/99

1999, Jerri Lynne Smith, Charleston County Webmaster
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA
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