St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Bradford Springs
National Register Listing
Street Address:
Bradford Springs Rd., approximately 6 mi. N of Dalzell, SC City Vicinity (Lee County)
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817731012
Description and Narrative:
St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, built in 1840, is significant as an excellent example of vernacular Gothic Revival church architecture and for its association with the popular antebellum and postwar summer colony of Bradford Springs. The church is a tangible link to the once-bustling, mid-nineteenth century community of Bradford Springs, located in the “High Hills of the Santee.” This area was a summer resort for planters and their families seeking refuge from the heat and malaria of the lowcountry and the midlands. Such families as the Sumters, Gaillards, Porchers, Stoneys, Frasers, Colcloughs, Capers, and Tates often spent from April to November there. The meeting house form church is a one-and-one-half story Gothic Revival building with a gable front and clad in weatherboard. It rests on piers of native stone and clay mortar (those on the perimeter are covered in stucco). The double front door and the 9/9 sash windows throughout the building are capped by pointed arches. The rear elevation has a gable end addition used for robing. The interior is as simple in design as its exterior. The church is entered through a small narthex which has stairs leading to the small balcony. The sanctuary has a simple dado and a plain painted plaster field. The cemetery adjoining the church dates to the founding of the congregation and is surrounded by a picket fence. Listed in the National Register April 17, 1996.
Period of Significance:
1840 – 1841
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Architecture
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
April 17 1996
