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Pickens County

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Image courtesy of the Segars Collection – 2004

The first notice of Hopewell Church appears in the Minutes of the Presbytery of South Carolina, October 13, 1789: “A people of Seneca apply to be taken under our care and receive supplies.” One account says that the church was organized in 1788-89 by the spirited exertions of a few men who removed from Abbeville. (Brief manuscript account of the congregations at Hopewell and Carmel by Thomas Reese, September 15, 1793.) first appears on the records of Presbytery on April 14, 1789: “A congregation of Little Generostee, to be known by the name Good Hope.” Another account states that it was formed after the Revolution in union with nearby Carmel Church, the congregation being augmented by the gradual immigration of Presbyterian families who moved in from different quarters. (Manuscript History of Chinches of the Second Presbytery of South Carolina.) The church is located a few miles north of the village of Pendleton. Its first house of worship, built according to the Rev. Hugh Dickson in 1791, was made of logs but this gave place in 1802 to stone. The church has since been known as the Stone Meeting House or the Old Stone Church.  (Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC)
Image courtesy of the Segars Collection – 2004

Image courtesy of the Segars Collection – 2004

 Image courtesy of the Segars Collection – 2004

Image courtesy of the Segars Collection – 2004

 Image courtesy of the Segars Collection – 2004

Image courtesy of the Segars Collection – 2004

 Postcard image courtesy of the Revels Collection – 2015

Postcard image courtesy of the Revels Collection – 2015

 Courtesy of the S.C. Dept. of Archives and History

Courtesy of the S.C. Dept. of Archives and History

 Courtesy of the S.C. Dept. of Archives and History

Courtesy of the S.C. Dept. of Archives and History

Old Stone Church – Hopewell Presbyterian in Pickens County, S.C.

Get Directions Latitude: 34.663618     Longitude: -82.815642

Old Stone Church Road (Off #76)

City Directories and History: The Old Stone Church, measuring 35 – 55 feet, is significant architecturally as a masonry adaptation of meeting house architecture and as a representative of the early pioneer church in South Carolina. Many prominent men are buried in its cemetery. On October 13, 1789, the congregation of Hopewell-Keowee Church asked to be

HABS Images - Library of Congress Collection

HABS Images – Library of Congress Collection

Hopewell Meetinghouse, Anderson-Seneca Road, U.S. Route 76 vicinity, Clemson, Pickens County, SC Hopewell Meetinghouse, Anderson-Seneca Road, U.S. Route 76 vicinity, Clemson, Pickens Countytaken into the Presbytery of South Carolina. Construction of the Old Stone Church began in 1797, replacing the congregation’s log meeting house that had burned. The natural fieldstone rectangular structure with medium gable roof was completed in 1802, John Rusk contractor. It is six bays deep with high fenestration. The windows are the size of its doorways, all of which are topped with a flat arch. Exterior stairs lead to the slave gallery at the rear of the church. During the 1890s, the Old Stone Church and Cemetery Commission was organized, a wall put around the graveyard, and repairs made to preserve the old building. Listed in the National Register November 5, 1971. (Courtesy of South Carolina Department of Archives and History)

R&R HISTORY LINK: the Rev. James McElhenney was pastor at the Old Stone Church – Hopewell and lived at Fort Hill Plantation

Courtesy of the Fredrick Tucker Collection – 2017

Old Stone Church – When the line dividing Pendleton District into Anderson and Pickens Districts was run in 1826, the old Stone Church Area was in Pickens District, and subsequently in 1868 when Pickens District was divided into Oconee and Pickens Counties, the Stone Church was again in Pickens County, and remained so until about forty years ago when a local agreement was formed between Clemson School District of Oconee County and Calhoun District of Pickens County by which Oconee County was to receive the taxes and enrollment of the children of the Stone Church area and direct the school activities.
At first the Presbyterians of the Seneca River area, led principally by Generals Robert Anderson and Andrew Pickens, built a log church building in which to worship, but as time passed the structure became inadequate; thus in 1797 they built a very imposing structure of field stones which became known as The Stone Church now called The Old Stone Church. In the great cemetery many famous personages are buried, including Generals

Courtesy of the AFLLC Collection – 2017

Anderson and Pickens. The church and great cemetery are near the State Highway leading from Pendleton to Clemson College.

(Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC)

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R&R HISTORY LINK: Colton’s 1854 Map of Pickens Co., S.C. – Enlargeable

R&R HISTORY LINK: TEXT – NR NOMINATION

R&R HISTORY LINK: NATIONAL REGISTER – IMAGE(S)

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IMAGE GALLERY  via photographer Bill Segars – 2004

 

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Please enjoy this structure and all those listed in Roots and Recall. But remember each is private property. So view them from a distance or from a public area such as the sidewalk or public road. Do you have information to share and preserve? Family, school, church, or other older photos and stories are welcome. Send them digitally through the “Share Your Story” link, so they too might be posted on Roots and Recall.

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