112 Church Street and 132 South Main Street
City Directories and History: The historic Welsh Neck Baptist Church built in 1931 replaced the historic church building. Architect Henry Dudley Harrall supervised construction.
The parsonage was constructed in 1855.
Welsh Neck Baptist Church – Written and contributed to R&R by Bill Segars, 2015
I don’t think that The New & Press has enough ink to print all of the written history that has been maintained concerning this old Baptist congregation. This congregation is not only one of oldest “Dissenter” congregations in South Carolina, but they have maintained an enormous amount of printed records. Before we go any further, I feel that I need to explain the term “Dissenter” so no one will get offended. It is not a bad or derogatory term. In the Church Act of 1706, South Carolina established the Anglican religion as the religion of the State. One of the main reasons for settling the new land away from England and the Church of England was religious freedom. Provisions were made in this act for any group to establish their own religion without persecution, but they were to be called “Dissenter” and they were to worship in a “Meeting Houses”, not a church. So in this time Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians were commonly known of as “Dissenters” meaning a person or group that dissented, or moves away from an established church, political party, or majority opinion. Now that we’ve gotten that cleared up, let’s get back to Welsh Neck.
The first religious service held among this settlement of Welsh people from Pennsylvania was on the first Lord’s Day of January 1738 by Rev. James C. Furman. They adopted the name of Pee Dee Church, since it was on the Pee Dee River. Let’s put that 1738 date in prospective: Charles Town, the first settlement in the Carolina was settled in 1670, Charleston Baptist, the first Baptist church in Carolina was established on September 25, 1682, Pee Dee Church in January of 1738. For back woods people settling in an unknown area, that’s a fast time line. More importantly, the quickness of starting a church shows the great importance this group placed on religion and staying in contact with God.
This article is not intended to be a complete history of this congregation. But for those interested in learning more, there is a 69 page book written about the complete history of Welsh Neck Baptist Church that was compiled in 1988, the source of much of this information. Let’s fast forward to the year of 1928. By now the name of Welsh Neck Baptist has been adopted, March 17, 1785, and the congregation has moved from the Northern bank of the Pee Dee River to the Southern bank, in the town of Society Hill, where they built a wood frame building in 1843. All was going well for Welsh Neck and the town of Society Hill. They were now located on high ground, somewhat away from the low lying land of the rising and falling Pee Dee River. The rail road had come to town; they had survived The War Between the States, jobs were available, the economy was looking up.
Until July 5, 1928, when lighting struck Welsh Neck’s beautiful 85 year old worship center. On that Thursday night during a tremendous storm, a single bolt of lightning struck the wooden building and within an hour their beautiful building, with most of its precious memories, was a pile of smoldering ruins. So quick was the massive destruction that little was able to be saved. Several brave souls did attempt to salvage some items. Risking their own lives, they entered the burning building several times to bring out the 80 year old Bible, the piano, one set of the organ pipes and a few pieces of the pulpit furniture. Take a moment and think about what “things” would you risk life and limb to save from a burning building? I hope that you are never faced with that question, but think about it.
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on April 25, 1888 – “A celebration was recently held for the sequi-centennial of the Welsh Neck Baptist Church at Society Hill in Darlington County.”
From all over South Carolina came an outpouring of support and strength for the congregation of Welsh Neck in this small hamlet of Society Hill. The famed architect from Hartsville wrote in The State newspaper, “the building itself bore all the marks of those master builders who contributed so much to the stability and charm of our colonial work and later gave us the stately architecture of the Antebellum South.”
The closing portion of a resolution that was written by A. H. Rogers and Miss Helen Coker and was read near the ruins on the Sunday following the fire exemplified the faith of this congregation. “Let us expect great things from God, and in His name let us be willing to attempt great things for Him. Therefore, we accept this as a testing time and we dedicate anew our lives to our God that we may be led of His spirit to carry out His plan for us in the erection of a new Welsh Neck Baptist Church.” Again I’ll ask a question, would you be willing to have this positive of an attitude in the face of such a devastating loss?
Even before the ruins were cleaned up, the congregation began making plans to rebuild their house of worship. Bennettsville native Henry Dudley Harrall was hire as the architect for the new building. Fund raising began and money begins to flow in, slowly, but money was accumulated. Enough money was in hand that construction could begin with a ground breaking ceremony on July 8, 1929, almost exactly one year after the fire. By November of 1929 $18,000 had been collected and expended on the building, the only problem was it wasn’t finished. The exterior was completed and it did certainly appear to be a finished building, but nothing on the inside had been done. When I say nothing, I mean nothing, no floor, no walls, nothing, but the outside looked good and everyone seemed to be pleased with the progress.
With construction spanning the time of July to November of 1929, that time frame encompasses October 24, 1929. For those that may have forgotten the significance of that date, does the Stock Market Crash of 1929 ring a bell? Times were hard, there was simple no money available to continue the building process at the pace that the members desired. Cut backs were necessary, even the pastor, Rev. C. E. Stevens’, salary was cut and he was allowed to seek other side work and become a “half time preacher”. What didn’t waver was their dedication to completing their building and giving to missions. Even facing hard times and a strong desire to finish their building, Welsh Neck continued to send 25% of any money that was taken in to the Baptist Convention in support of mission work.
Little by little progress was being made inside the building. On July 19, 1931 the anxious congregation couldn’t wait any longer; they held the first service in their unfinished building. The interior was far from finished, no heat, sub flooring only, handmade benches and no painting, but it was theirs, their home. It was the spur they needed to push on to the final completion. Progress continued to be slow; most everyone realized that there just wasn’t enough money available.
By June of 1935 a small group of ladies of the church had had enough. The “Ladies Aid Society”, a group of 15 ladies ban together to make plans for the upcoming church’s 200th anniversary in 1938. They were determined to hold that service in a completed building. “It can’t be done” was not an option. They were going to see that completion was achieved and achieved by January of 1938. Completion to this group of head strong ladies was not just painting the interior of the building; they wanted it be completed with new pews, new pulpit furniture and a new organ. Making a long story short, their endeavor can summed up over the next two and a half years as “No” is not an acceptable answer. They did it; the new Pilcher Pipe Organ was dedicated on October 3, 1937, and the Bi-centennial service was held in the completed sanctuary on April 3, 1938.
As with most churches, their history is a series of peaks and valleys. As exhibited with Welsh Neck Baptist Church’s 277 years, they have experienced their share of peaks and valleys. Their strong willed faith has driven this congregation up the hills of adversity to be a strong guiding light not just for Society Hill, or Darlington County, but as an example to all that now know the real story of what can be done through faith if you believe in God and set your mind to it.
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IMAGE GALLERY via photographer Bill Segars
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