Strawberry Chapel and Childsbury Town Site

Strawberry Chapel is a parish church branch in the lower part of St. John's in Berkeley County, South Carolina, which was built in 1725. It is located at the Strawberry Chapel Road between the South Carolina State Highway 8-44 and the western arm of the Cooper River. The Town of Childsbury was a New Town, but no longer exists at this point, which was settled in 1707. The Church and the site of the former town was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 26, 1972. The site of the Town is a South Carolina Heritage Preserve.

History

James Child, an English settler who received a 480 -acre piece of land on Strawberry Bluff, which towered over the Cooper River. This land was located on the Fall Line to the point, could drive up to the upstream ships. He taught at the site of a ferry and planned the construction of the city Childsbury above the river on the cliffs. Eventually there were in the city a guest house, a school, a chapel, a shop and a ferry. A Gerber, a butcher, a shoemaker, and carpenters operated their businesses. Due to the growth of nearby plantations, however, the city lost its importance. The chapel and the inn were made in 1750 still used, also markets were up in the middle of 1750 still held.

The chapel belonged to the parish of St. John's, Berkeley. The parish was then Biggin Church, about 15 km away. The church had the authority to baptize newborns and to bury the dead.

1825 Biggin Church was replaced by the Strawberry Chapel.

Map

The city should include twenty-four road blocks on the Strawberry Bluff. In the center was a square, but it should be two more courses, Child's Square and Dixe 's Square. It was intended that the streets 66 feet ( 20 ) wide.

Land for a college, a public school, a church and a priest were provided. In addition, Child had in his plan 600 acres ( 240 hectares) reported land for farms and livestock, as well as 100 acres ( 40 hectares) scheduled for a citadel. A drawing of his plan was published.

Architecture of the chapel

The chapel is a simple, rectangular building made ​​of plastered brick. It has a hipped roof. The south facade has a double entrance door with about a fighter window. With shops closable windows are located on both sides of the door. At the western end of the church there is a single door, which is flanked by a pair of windows. In a decorative rose window is installed. From the north side rises behind the altar out a small hall, which serves as a sacristy.

A plaque on one of the former parish priest was transferred from the Biggin Church in the Strawberry Chapel. The silver communion set of Biggin Church, which was hidden at the end of the Civil War, one Plantation found in 1947 in a shed the Combahee buried. It is now in the Strawberry Chapel.

1882 a new chapel was built in the not far distant Cordesville. Strawberry Chapel itself was repaired in 1913.

The church is surrounded by a cemetery.