200 Year Old Charleston Church!

A Charleston church with over 200 years of history.

In my Beyond the Grave class we did a first impressions of Charleston churches as a group project.

What a beautiful entrance!

My group chose the Second Presbyterian Church of Charleston. We chose this church because it was closer to campus and the views of the church are very elegant. The church offers something different at every angle.

Second Presbyterian Church of Charleston is located at 342 Meeting Street Charleston, SC 29403.

Front door to the church.

The community of Presbyterians were dissenters from the Church of England who worshiped together in the White Meeting House on Meeting St. The congregation included English, Irish, Scottish, French Huguenots and Independent Presbyterians. Twelve families withdrew from the White Meeting House and established the First (Scots) Presbyterian Church, which was modeled after the Church of Scotland.





This church grew quickly and there was a need for a second Presbyterian church. In 1809 planning for Second Presbyterian Church began. On April 3, 1811 it was dedicated with the corporate name of "Second Presbyterian Church of Charleston and Its Suburbs".






The architectural style is Jeffersonian Classicism built by architect brothers, James and John Gordon. The church is brick covered with stucco, on one of the column the brick is exposed and can be seen. The building is rectangular and features two tiers of windows. The original plans included a church steeple, however, it was never completed due to structural issues. The church was topped with a simple square tower with a lantern.

The graveyard wraps around this church. The size of the graveyard flows well with the size of the church and the community.  It is not very big but contains so much history.  The plots are not too close together and there is a variety of grave maker and sizes. There are some makers that are bigger and more elaborate and others are smaller. The graveyard was open when we went to take pictures and a video, however, the church was not open but we were still able to get many good pictures.

The back side of the church.

The information, pictures and video in this post are a compiled work from Jeffery Jones, Graham Herndon and I did. Click the links on their names to view their blogs!