3517 Five Chop Road
City Directories and History: (White Meeting House; White House Church) The White House United Methodist Church is one of the finer and increasingly rare examples in South Carolina of the popular “meeting house” style typical of rural and less affluent church congregations. Built ca. 1850, the church reflects the style’s bare and simple design principles, affording only the essentials needed for worship. This can be seen in the church’s rectangular plan, original clapboard siding and hard hand hewn pine benches. With the exception of a choir loft, stained glass
White House Methodist Church history plaque.
windows, and carpet the interior appears much as it originally did. The front portico is a 1939 addition, as are the rooms added to the rear. The church building, third on the site, houses the oldest Methodist congregation in Orangeburg County, dating back to the late 1780s. Francis Asbury, the first Bishop of American Methodism, visited the congregation in 1801 and 1803. Listed in the National Register May 13, 1974. [Courtesy of the SC Dept. of Archives and History] The church building measures 29.4 – 68 feet.
View the complete text of the nomination form for this National Register property.
“This is located on Highway 301 about nine miles southeast of Orangeburg. It was first called White- Meetinghouse, evidently named for some family in that neighborhood by the name of White. On December 24, 1801, Bishop Francis Asbury preached here. (He was here again two years later.) He lodged that night with Jacob Dantzler, who lived near the present Jericho Church in Calhoun County. Some years later White House church was visited by the famous Rev. Lorenzo Dow, a free-lance Methodist preacher and evangelist.”
Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC
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NATIONAL REGISTER – IMAGE(S)
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IMAGE GALLERY via photographer Bill Segars – 2004
