Description
The church walls of the Chapel of Ease remain intact, and a small cemetery is close by. It is a rare example of a tabby church ruin--Old Sheldon Church is more brick than tabby, while other tabby churches (such as ones in Darien, GA) are functioning churches, not ruins.
History
Constructed about 1740, it was a "chapel of ease" for planters in the vicinity of St. Helena Island who lived too far from the Anglican (now Episcopal) parish church in Beaufort, SC. In 1812 it became a parish church but was abandoned during the Civil War. Methodist freedmen used the church after the Civil War until it was destroyed by fire in 1886.
It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 6, 1988.
Location
GPS: N 32° 22.543 and W 80°34.604
Address: 17 Land’s End Road, St. Helena Island, SC 29920
Accessibility: Enter the island on Sea Island Parkway (U.S. Highway 21); turn right
onto Martin Luther King Drive; go 1.5 miles, staying on the road as it turns into
Land’s End Road; the ruins will be on the left with an area to pull over in front
of the church.
For more information, see South Carolina Department of Archives.
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