Old Sheldon Church ruins

A church burned in two wars and never roofed again

The brick shell of Prince William’s Parish Church, built between 1745 and 1753 and said to be the first attempt in the country to imitate a Greek temple. British troops burned it in 1779 and the parish rebuilt it in 1826. It was gutted again in 1865, by Sherman’s troops in the traditional account, while a letter from 1866 says the building was stripped to rebuild homes his army had burned. The columns and walls have stood roofless since. The Parish Church of St. Helena in Beaufort owns the ruins and holds a service here every spring; after bricks were stolen and walls defaced it put a fence around them, so you walk around, not in. PRIVATE, open to look at, Yemassee.