This should be the easiest mystery we’ve offered in a long time. Look familiar? Send your guess to feedback@statehousereport.com — and remember to include your name, home city and contact information.
Last week’s mystery, “Epic fail,” showed an old, seemingly abandoned church along U.S. Highway 17 in Jacksonboro, S.C. Nearby was a billboard that said “Epic fail,” which seems like what’s happened to the church.
Elizabeth Jones of Columbia was the first of few to identify the church, which she described as “beautiful and sad” and said she would like to know more about it. Which Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas, provided in his answer:
“Today’s mystery photo is of the Wesley CME Church in Jacksonboro, S.C. Located at the intersection of Ace Basin Parkway (U.S. Highway 17) and Hope Plantation Lane. The church was named after the 18th-century Methodist founder, John Wesley (1703-1791), an English cleric, theologian and evangelist, who was the founder of the Methodist Revival Movement within the Church of England.
“Churches like the Wesley CME were bulwarks against segregation and discrimination across the South for over 100 years, providing witness to the value of human lives – lives that Jim Crow tried to throw away. As with many other Protestant denominational churches, it is evident that the Wesley CME Church was designed and built around simple lines and functionality, devoid of elaborate marble and gilded cornices that make up so many other places of worship. A door, two windows, and a modest steeple make up the face of this church; any more decorative elements would have been considered superfluous and wasteful.
“According to the property tax records for this property here, the church is 1,152 square feet in size and sits on a 0.2-acre lot. As of Dec. 31, 2019, it had a market valuation of $33,300. It was last sold (granted) by Fraser W. Whaley to the Wesley CME Church on Jan 8, 1983, for $3.00 (yes … you read that correctly … 3 bucks!). Clearly Whaley was a very generous man! Interestingly, the property tax records also show a sale date of July 4, 1776!”
Also identifying the photo correctly were George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Frank Bouknight of Summerville; and Jay Altman of Columbia.
- Send us a mystery. If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
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