218 Ashley Avenue
City Directories and History: ” Church of the Holy Communion (Episcopal) The congregation was organized in 1848 in the home of the Rev. Nathaniel Bowen. The Rev. Anthony Toomer Porter became pastor in 1854, when the members met for services in a room in the United States Arsenal, at Ashley and Bee. Charleston architects Edward C. Jones and Francis D. Lee designed the structure, which was completed in 1855. The church was enlarged and remodeled in 1871 following the plan of Dr. Porter, who copied the hammer beam roof from Trinity Hall , Cambridge, and added a recess chancel and transepts. Dr. Porter’s many projects included an industrial school which provided uniforms and camp equipment for the Confederacy.
In 1867, Dr. Porter founded the Holy Communion Church institute, which later became Porter Military Academy, now Porter-Gaud School. He also traveled North and to Europe to secure funds for a school for blacks and for re-opening the theological seminary. Dr. Porter observed the rubrics of the Prayer Book and Liturgy of the Anglican “High Church,” and such features as the white marble altar with a marble cross candlesticks and missal stand, and vestments in liturgical colors. The church has maintained the tradition of historical liturgical worship which Dr. Porter instituted. During the Civil War , the parish house of Holy Communion was one of several places which Postmaster Alfred Huger used temporarily as the Post Office, due to the Federal bombardment of the lower part of the city. Following the war, the Washington Light Infantry Volunteers of the Hampton Legion was organized here.” (Stockton, DYKYC, June 29, 1981; Porter, Led On! , passim.; Forty Years , passim; Legerton, p. 10-11; Stoney, This is Charleston , p. 7.) – CCPL
Other sources of interest: Charleston Tax Payers of Charleston, SC in 1860-61, and the Dwelling Houses of Charleston by Alice R.H. Smith – 1917. The HCF may also have additional data at: Past Perfect and further research can be uncovered at: Charleston 1861 Census Schedule
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