While the Old Sheldon Church isn’t technically in the Southern Crescent — missing it by being a few miles east of Yemassee, S.C., and the Hampton and Colleton county lines — it’s a fitting photo for a fall Sunday. With Spanish moss dripping from old oaks, the church dates to the mid 1700s and served as a symbol of the prosperity of South Carolina in pre-Revolutionary War days. Rebuilt later, it burned around the time of the Civil War.
These days, plantations line lazy rivers, but most people in this rural area are far from wealthy. Hampton County, for example, is home to about 21,000 people, some 22.6 percent of whom live below the poverty line. Colleton County, also nearby, has just over 38,000 people, 21 percent of whom live at or below the federal poverty level.
- Learn more about the history of Old Sheldon Church from this entry (scroll down) excerpted from the S.C. Encyclopedia.
© 2014, Andy Brack. Photo taken Oct. 1, 2014. All rights reserved.