Old White Meeting House Ruins and Cemetery
National Register Listing
Street Address:
Dorchester Road (S.C. Highway 642), Summerville, SC City Vicinity (Dorchester County)
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817718012
Description and Narrative:
Old White Meeting House was built ca. 1700, burned during the American Revolution in 1781, rebuilt in 1794, then reduced to ruins by the Charleston Earthquake of 1886. Constructed of brick and covered with stucco, it conformed to the typical “meeting house” plan of the colonial period, featuring a square building with a pyramidal roof. The dimension of the Old White Meeting House as rebuilt in 1794 were 30’x30’. The extant ruins include portions of each corner-the largest approximately 9’ high-and significant remnants of the foundation of walls, clearly outlining the historic form, plan, and size of the meeting house. The cemetery, which also contributes to the significance of the nominated property, surrounds the meeting house ruins and is laid out in a regular grid plan, with little discernible landscaping or other planned features other than an entrance gate and a few deciduous or evergreen trees shading particular family plots. Grave markers are primarily granite or marble tablets, obelisks, and table-top stones. The first marked graves in the cemetery date from the 1760s, and most burials date from the nineteenth century. Listed in the National Register February 8, 2005.
Period of Significance:
circa 1700;1781;1794;1886;circa 1700 – 1886
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Exploration/Settlement;Religion;Social History
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
February 18 2005
