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All the United States South Carolina Yemassee Old Sheldon Church Ruins

Old Sheldon Church Ruins

Despite being burnt down multiple times, the ruins of this South Carolina church are still standing.

Yemassee, South Carolina

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Laura
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Old Sheldon Church Ruins   Carolyn Elizabeth Heath/CC BY-SA 3.0
Old Sheldon Church Ruins   Carolyn Elizabeth Heath/CC BY-SA 3.0
Old Sheldon Church   dysalgia / Atlas Obscura User
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Old Sheldon Church Ruins   Scott Oves/CC BY 2.0
Old Sheldon Church Ruins   susieq3c/CC BY 2.0
A view of the interiors.   dysalgia / Atlas Obscura User
The best advice for your visit.   dysalgia / Atlas Obscura User
A marker at the site.   dysalgia / Atlas Obscura User
Graves at the church.   JaneWeinhardt
The church was damaged multiple times.   JaneWeinhardt
The ruins seen from a distance.   dysalgia / Atlas Obscura User
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Approaching the ruins   steelyfan / Atlas Obscura User
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Inside the Ruins 10.28.2017   Raven Traveler / Atlas Obscura User
Sky view from within the Ruins 10.28.2017   Raven Traveler / Atlas Obscura User
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The View from Above by Wild Women Wander   wildwomenwander / Atlas Obscura User
Third View from Above by Wild Women Wander   wildwomenwander / Atlas Obscura User
Alternate View from Above by Wild Women Wander   wildwomenwander / Atlas Obscura User
Gravesite of William Bull inside the church ruins   WGTMMike / Atlas Obscura User
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Brief sad history of the Prince William’s Parish Church   WGTMMike / Atlas Obscura User
Sheldon Ruins by night   hollowwalls / Atlas Obscura User
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About

The haunting South Carolina ruins of the Old Sheldon Church have been standing for well over a century, although given its multiple fires, that's not for lack of trying to destroy the building.

The gutted, gothic arches of what we know today as the Old Sheldon Church Ruins were originally part of a house of worship known as Prince William's Parish Church. Built around the mid-1700s, the church was nearly destroyed by the British during the Revolutionary War not many years after it was completed. The remains of the church would lay abandoned for decades after its first attempted destruction but the stone foundations that remained were finally rebuilt in 1826.

Unfortunately this second life for the church was to be about as brief as the first. When General Sherman led his troops through South Carolina during the Civil War, they too felt like it would be a good time to put the Old Sheldon Church to the torch, once again burning the building down to its stone foundations. After this second defeat, the church was allowed to simply remain a ruin for the rest of its days.

This may have been for the best since, today, the ruins are a beautiful feature set amongst tall, leaning oaks and smatterings of old graves from the brief periods the church was in service. Now the crumbling remains are often used for wedding photos and other moody photography. However the ruins are put to use, at least they are no longer put to the torch.

Related Tags

Churches Ruins Us Civil War Sacred Spaces

Community Contributors

Added By

lovatodaye

Edited By

Mom0ja, hrnick, jalmers, EricGrundhauser...

  • Mom0ja
  • hrnick
  • jalmers
  • EricGrundhauser
  • Raven Traveler
  • Jane Weinhardt Goldberg
  • dysalgia
  • hollowwalls
  • breaingram
  • WGTMMike
  • lendog666
  • tjw2121
  • steelyfan
  • HelloKitty
  • Darrell Powers
  • Robby Ayers
  • wildwomenwander
  • atomicdecay

Published

June 26, 2015

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Sources
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Sheldon_Church_Ruins
  • http://www.sciway.net/sc-photos/beaufort-county/old-sheldon-church.html
  • http://discoversouthcarolina.com/products/3460
  • http://www.richfieldevents.com/attractions.htm
  • http://www.rossalmersphotographyanddesign.com/HistoricSites/Old-Sheldon-Church-Ruins/
Old Sheldon Church Ruins
Old Sheldon Church Road
Yemassee, South Carolina
United States
32.618526, -80.780439
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