Cainhoy in Berkeley County, South Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

St. Thomas Church

Photographed by Mike Stroud, 2009

1. St. Thomas Church Marker

Inscription. The Parish of St. Thomas was established by Act of Assembly Nov. 30, 1706. The first church was erected in 1708 and destroyed by forest fire in 1815. The present ediface was erected in 1819.

Erected by South Carolina Department of Archives and History. (Marker Number 8-13.)

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Colonial Era • Religion & Religious Structures. A significant historical date for this entry is October 30, 1820.

Location. 32° 57.66′ N, 79° 51.403′ W. Marker is in Cainhoy, South Carolina, in Berkeley County. It is on Cainhoy Road (State Highway 8-98). Located North of Brick Church Road. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Huger SC 29450, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the Lowcountry

and in Santee Cooper Country.

It is also in the American South

and specifically in the Deep South.

Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 8 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Keith School (approx. 2.2 miles away); Brabant Plantation (approx. 4.1 miles away); Thomas Lynch at Rivertowne (approx. 4.6 miles away); Otranto Indigo Vat (approx. 4.7 miles away); Wando Pottery (approx. 5 miles away); Point Plantation / Richmond Plantation (approx. 5.4 miles away); Phillips Community (approx. 6.1 miles away); Site of Fairbank Plantation (approx. 7.1 miles away).

Regarding St. Thomas Church. (St. Thomas & St. Dennis

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Parish Episcopal Church; Brick Church) White Church, or St. Thomas & St. Dennis Parish Episcopal Church, was constructed in 1819 and occupies the site of the older parish church of St. Thomas, which was built about 1706 but which burned in 1815. During the Reconstruction period, the church was the scene of the 1876 “Cainhoy Massacre,” a serious riot between whites and blacks which developed when some white men from Charleston journeyed to Cainhoy to attend a Negro Republican meeting. The blacks fired upon the white men with guns they had hidden in a vault at St. Thomas churchyard.
The church, charming in its simplicity of design, is a uniquely beautiful example of a small, rural parish church of the early 1800s. The church, with its Classical Revival or late Federal features, is made of stucco over brick with a medium gable roof made of tile. A high-arched doorway with a fanlight capped by a five-panel arch is set between pilasters. The side facades are identical. A balcony above the inside door was added about 1858. In 1937 the church was restored by Henry F. Guggenheim. An unusual and distinctive auxiliary building is the vestry, with hipped roof on one end and chimney on the other, giving the appearance of a half-completed building. A cemetery dating from 1782 is included in the nomination. Listed in the National Register September 22, 1977. ( S.C. Dept. Of Archives and