57 Meeting Street
The Buist family was founded in South Carolina with the arrival in 1793 of Rev. George Buist, D. D. to assume the pastorate of the First (Scots) Presbyterian Church….
City Directories and History: FIRST (SCOTS) PRESBYTERIAN
Constructed circa 1814; renovated 1887, 1945 and 1987 / #57 Meeting Street
“Perhaps inspired by the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe’s Baltimore Cathedral or designs by Robert Adam for the church at Mistley in Essex, the present structure replaced an earlier church dating to the 1760s. An even earlier building stood to the west of the current site. The
pedimented portico supported by Tuscan columns is flanked by twin towers with gilded spheres and ironwork finials. First Scots is the fifth-oldest ecclesiastical building in the city, and the churchyard contains over fifty eighteenth-century gravestones. It was probably designed and constructed by the Scottish master builders John and James Gordon, who were members of the congregation. Much of the interior has been altered, due to severe earthquake damage and a fire in 1945. An important carved wooden memorial with rococo decoration survives from the earlier meetinghouse and memorializes Lady Anne Murray, a young Scottish noblewoman and member of the congregation who died in 1772. It hangs on the sanctuary wall along with marble memorials to the church’s prominent nineteenth-century members, most of Scottish extraction. Ties to the Church of Scotland are exemplified by the stained glass window depicting the seal of the Church of Scotland, the burning bush, with the Latin motto around the seal: “Nec tamen consumebatur” (Nevertheless it was not consumed).”
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997
The BUIST FAMILY
Mr. H. B. Buist of Greenville came to Rock Hill in February 1896 to help develop the new Winthrop College farm. He also helped to develop and landscape the main campus. The Buist family was in Rock Hill for about thirteen years. This paper is an effort to trace the family and assess their impact on Rock Hill and the Winthrop community.
The Buist family was founded in South Carolina with the arrival in 1793 of Rev. George Buist, D. D. to assume the pastorate of the First (Scots) Presbyterian Church in Charleston. He was born in the County of Fife, Scotland in 1770, the son of Arthur and Catherine Inglis Buist. His grandfather was Henry Buist (c. 1690-c. 1787), a farmer of Orkie, Parish of Kettles, in Fifeshire.[1]
Young George entered the College of Edinburgh in 1787 and was soon recognized as a precocious student. His main field of study was theology, but he also mastered classical studies, science, the arts, and several languages. The faculty recognized “early indications of his superior genius.”[2] He was honored by the College of Edinburgh in 1794 with a Doctor of Divinity degree at the age of 24. During his time in Edinburgh as a very young man, he was made an honorary member of the Edinburgh Philological Society, published an abridgement of Hume’s History of England, and contributed articles to the Encyclopedia Britannica.[3]
R&R HISTORY LINK: First Pres. Church – Greenville, S.C.
In 1793, the Presbyterian Church in Charles Town was seeking a new pastor and sought assistance from the authorities in Edinburgh. The young minister George Buist was recommended to them, and he accepted their call….. (See the remainder of this article by clicking on the More Information link, under the primary image.)
Also see PDF this page: GUIDE TO PRESBYTERIAN NAMES AND PLACES IN SC by J.B. Martin, III – 1989
Other sources: Charleston Tax Payers of Charleston, SC in 1860-61, Dwelling Houses of Charleston by Alice R.H. Smith – 1917, Charleston 1861 Census Schedule, and a 1872 Bird’s Eye View of Charleston, S.C. The Hist. Charleston Foundation may also have additional data at: Past Perfect
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R&R HISTORY LINK: MR. BUIST TRANSFORMS THE LAURENS FEMALE INSTITUTE
R&R HISTORY LINK: MR. BUIST TRANSFORMS WINTHROP UN’S CAMPUS
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