The first time I chanced upon the ruins of Sheldon Church, I was mystified. Four brick columns stood in front of a massive brick structure with looming arched openings. The building resides among elderly oaks dripping with Spanish moss. To add to the ethereal nature of the place, 200-plus-year-old gravestones protrude from the unmanicured grounds around the abandoned church.
Even though the remote spot is a good 15–20 minutes off Interstate 95 in South Carolina, it’s always been on my radar. Delving into the history even inspired my second novel and motivated me to use an image of the ruins for the book’s cover.
Sheldon Church’s History
The church had two distinct existences in what was originally known (prior to America’s establishment) as Prince William’s Parish. Sometime between 1745 and 1753, it was built in the Greek Revival style for settlers to the New World. In 1779, Gen. Augustine Prevost’s British troops burned this impressive church because it served as a spot to conceal Continental troops’ arms, ammunition, and drill practices.Supposedly, the church was named Sheldon Church due to the land donated by an early family by the last name of Bull, whose ancestral home in Warwickshire, England, was called Sheldon Hall. One unique historical tidbit about the church is that inside the ruins is a marker indicating the burial site of Col. William Bull, who, along with Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe, was key in establishing the physical layout of the town of Savannah, Georgia, just about 50 miles south of Sheldon Church.
By the early 1800s, it was a rebuilt and thriving church once again, this time attended by families who had established plantations in the cotton- and rice-thriving region. Yet, in February 1865, Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman made a final push through the Carolinas to bring an end to the Civil War. He allowed for the burning of homes and churches along the way; it has long been touted that troops serving under Gen. John Logan, the commander of Sherman’s 15th Corps, burned Sheldon Church once again. However, researchers for the government of Beaufort County, in which Sheldon Church is located, believe that it was a group of freedmen who ransacked the church building for materials when the war was winding down, leaving only its structural shell.
Sheldon Church was never restored. However, as Beaufort County, founded in 1769, shares in its historical documentation: “The ruins of the church still retain their classic simplicity. The original three-and-one-half foot thick colonnaded walls of Flemish bond and the four all-header bond portico columns remain. The western façade had an elegant portico, crowned by a triangular pediment with bulls-eye window and cornice with dentils. The large front doorway had a fanlight above and two round-headed windows, symmetrically spaced, on either side. On the north, five bays between the engaged columns were filled with a single tier of tall, round-headed windows. The other bay was left open for a portico. At the eastern end, above the alter, was a Palladian window, with a round-headed window on each side.”
Walking around the lofty brick ruins and scrutinizing the quality and symmetry of the gothic-like architecture and skillful craftsmanship makes clear why and how Sheldon Church’s bones remain intact. Despite the ravages of countless coastal hurricanes and multiple decades of intense heat and humidity, time has been kind to the well-built church.
The awe-inspiring nature of Sheldon Church and its historical significance led to it becoming listed in the National Register of Historic Places on Oct. 22, 1970; plus, the area in which it is located is designated a South Carolina Scenic Byway.
