Old Sheldon Church Ruins

Today we’ll travel to South Carolina and explore the eerie ruins of the Old Sheldon Church. 

Visiting the Old Sheldon Church

The road snaked through the massive oaks, their arms stretched lovingly over us. The day had already been one of unexpected adventure, but this next stop promised to be something more, something hauntingly beautiful. I could feel the stories bubbling up when the ruins finally came into view.

“There it is,” I said, leaning over my husband to get a better look at the church through his window. “Wow. It’s amazing.”

“We’re going to be glad we came. This is really something,” he said, pulling the truck into the small parking area on the opposite side of the street. We both hurried out, taking nothing but the camera.

It was difficult to take our eyes off the structure, but after looking both ways on the quiet street, we crossed over into what seemed like a different time. If ever I’ve felt a thin place—a place where two worlds or times meet—I wondered if this could be one.

We stopped to read the historic marker out front, but my mind was already swirling. Have you ever been somewhere that seemed to be whispering stories? This was a loud place for my creative soul, so I soon forgot what I’d read from the marker and wondered into the place, camera pointed, trying to capture what my eyes were trying to soak in.

A Holy Place

Though the church no longer had a roof, windows, or interior walls and furnishing, it still retained its sense of holiness. The ground felt sacred, and I strangely found myself whispering as if I were walking through a service. I’ve always connected with the idea of nature being a church or sorts. It is a divine thing. But there… canopied under the trees, the Old Sheldon Church certainly demanded the same amount of reverence as any holy place I’ve ever been.

We took photographs, captured a little video, and explored the grounds. Speckled throughout the lot were headstones, some dating to the late 1700s. So many couples, babies, and people who passed far younger than we. Being in the presence of history, of loss, of something that’s outlived generations, is humbling. You’re put in your place—reminded how life is nothing but a vapor and most of what we do here will be forgotten.

That’s what always draws me to places like that—their lives, their stories matter. They’re important. Someday when we’re long gone, it’s the historians who will keep our memories alive. It’s the kind people who mend, restore, and clean headstones, mow graveyards, preserve land with deep significance and historical importance—those are the people who will keep us all alive in that small but meaningful way.

History of the Old Sheldon Church or Prince William’s Parish Church

The Old Sheldon Church ruins are located in Beaufort County, South Carolina in the Sheldon area. Though it’s often referred to as Old Sheldon Church, it sometimes called the Prince William’s Parish Church. According to the National Register: Sheldon Church is believed to be the first (or among the first) attempt in America to imitate a Greek temple.

The church was originally built as a chapel of ease, which means that it’s a church building within the area of a parish but made for people who cound’t easily reach the central parish church.

It was built in an English Georgian style between the years of 1745 and 1753.

It’s believed that Prince Williams church was burned by British troops led by General Augustine Prevost in 1779 during the Revolutionary War. It was then rebuilt in 1826.

Tradition says that General Sherman’s troops burned the church again in 1865 during the Civil War. There is another possibility, though. Milton Leverett wrote in a letter dated February 3, of 1866, “Sheldon church not burnt. Just torn up in the inside, but can be repaired.”

The inside of the church was gutted to rebuild the many homes that were burned in Sherman’s wake.

What Remains of the Old Sheldon Church

The church has lain in ruin for 120 years, but the grounds are well-kept. Visitors can walk the grounds, see the graves, and get close to the church itself, but access to the inside or roaming too close to the remaining structure, is not allowed. A fence wraps around the church to protect it from any vandalism.

Inside the church fence, the remains of Colonel William Bull who helped General Oglethorpe establish Savannah can be found. General Bull surveyed the land for Savannah in 1733. He helped assist in laying out the grid pattern for the streets and squares of Savannah. He helped fund and organize the building of the church. The church was named Sheldon after the Bull’s ancestral home in England.

There’s something magical about the ancient oaks and scattered graves at the site. Strangely, it feels like the type of place to pack a lunch and have a picnic—not at all what one would expect from a someplace with ruins and graves.

The Old Sheldon Church is a popular site for photographers and visitors to the Lowcountry. An annual service is still held at the church on the second Sunday after Easter.

If you’re ever in the area and want to walk on hallowed ground, it is certainly the place to visit.