Here’s a big butterfly made out of blue granite, the state’s stone. Where is it? Send your guess to feedback@statehousereport.com — and remember to include your name, home city and contact information.
Last week’s mystery, “Old church,” shows a photo of Swift Creek Baptist Church in the Boykin community near Rembert. Thanks to Barry Wingard of Florence for sending the photo.
Congrats to these keen detectives for identifying the photo: Jay Altman and Yarley Steedly, both of Columbia; Robert Ariail and Katharine Beard, both of Camden; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Elizabeth Jones of Columbia; Christine Simonson of Sumter; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; Bill Segars of Hartsville; Pat Keadle of Wagener; and David Lupo of Mount Pleasant.
Segars tells us that “since this church currently has no members and very few written records remain concerning this congregation, there is a fair amount of confusion about the exact year of its establishment. Nonetheless it is a very nice building, which is well maintained by interested local people that love it.”
But Graf said, “The Swift Creek Baptist Church, founded in 1787 with 55 members, was built on an acre of land donated by the Boykin family. Slave galleries were built in this historic church and there is a slave graveyard behind it. The church has changed its name several times and has been used by both the Baptists and the Methodists. In the early 1930s, it was abandoned for 60 years. In 1994 the church was refurbished and restored, producing a beautiful old structure.”
- 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.
- ORDER NOW: Copies are in Lowcountry-area bookstores now, but if you can’t swing by, you can order a copy online today.
- Now available as an e-book!
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!