Pineville, a historic refuge
Part 34:The Pineville Church, a Parish Chapel
By Warner M.Montgomery Warner@TheColumbiaStar.com

The St. Stephen's Parish Church was built in 1754.

Three ships filled with eager adventurers from England and Barbados landed on the Carolina coast in 1670 at the junction of the two rivers that formed the Atlantic. They named these rivers after the Lord Proprietor who funded their venture, Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper. They named their settlement after King Charles II of England.

Whereas the Spanish had ravaged North America for God, glory, and gold, these English folk were hardworking settlers. They established religious freedom and an open immigration policy.

The colony prospered because of trade with the Indians. English law was established with a Commons House of Assembly and a court. An attempt to stop the flood of non- English, non- Anglicans failed in 1704. But in 1706, the Church Act made the Church of England the state religion.

The act divided the colony into 10 parishes, each with a church, cemetery, parsonage, and farm paid for by the public. The ministers were assigned by the Church of England, but vestrymen, selected in each parish, were to record births, deaths, marriages, and maintain the property.

The Pineville Church was built in 1810 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

St. James Santee Parish was centered at Jamestown, home of early Huguenot settlers. In 1754, St. Stephen's Parish, known as English Santee, was split off from St. James Santee. The parish church was built in St. Stephen's Village.

Most of the citizens of St. Stephen's Parish lived on their plantations throughout the year. Some of the wealthier planters also had residences in Charleston where their children received early education before being sent to New England or Europe for formal schooling.

Captain James Sinkler of Laurel Hill Plantation observed that people who lived in places where pine trees were plentiful were usually free from the fevers that affected those who lived near the swamps. He decided it would be a safe place for his family to spend the summer months so he built a home on the pine ridge and moved his family and servants there. In November, he returned to Laurel Hill with all of his family in good health.

Captain Sinkler's friends were impressed by his experiment and soon followed his example. In 1794, Captain John Palmer, Captain Peter Gaillard, John Cordes, Samuel Porcher, Peter Porcher, and Philip Porcher built homes for summer use on the flat ridge south of the Santee Swamp. This little settlement, the first of its kind in the south, was called Pineville, and soon became a popular summer resort for planters of the parishes of St. Stephen's and Upper St. John's Berkeley.

Within a few years Pineville contained 60 houses, each on a lot of from one to two acres in size. The pine trees were zealously guarded, it being agreed among the residents that a fine of $5 be imposed on anyone who cut down or seriously injured one of them.

Religious services continued in the parish church in St. Stephen's. However, by 1808 the church was left without a minister and the services discontinued.

The people of Pineville built a chapel of ease and a cemetery two miles west of the village on the old River Road. For a short period, Mr. Baker officiated every Sunday as lay reader in the chapel, then it was determined that religious worship would be held in homes.

These people had a strong Huguenot heritage and long remembered the early hostility of the English to their ancestors. They wanted to use the liturgy of the Episcopal Church, but did not want a bishop and did not recognize the authority of the diocese. Their service was simple by choice, and the minister wore a black robe for the entire service. Bishop A.S. Thomas states in his church history that the people "resisted cooperation with the diocese" until 1845. (Thomas, Albert Sidney. A Historical Account of the Protestant Episcopal Church in South Carolina 1820-1957. Columbia, 1957).

In 1810, a neat wooden church was erected in the village, and placed under the rectorship of The Rev. Charles Blair Snowden. From June through October, Reverend Snowden officiated as rector of the Pineville Church. During the other seven months he rotated among Pineville, The Rocks in Upper St. John's Berkeley, and Black Oak in Middle St. John's. These last two churches were erected principally by members of the Pineville Church.

New World settlers brought their faith with them. Those who settled Pineville were no exception. They were Huguenots who fled persecution in France and eventually integrated their Protestant ideals into the established Anglican Church. Their little country chapel became the focal point of their life in South Carolina. The Pineville Church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 as part of the Pineville Historic District.

Keith Gourdin of Pineville contributed to this story.

(Next week: The Pineville Church, A Celebrated Chapel )