Category Archives: Churches and Temples

-South Carolina, Cemeteries, Churches and Temples

Retreat Presbyterian Church-Bachelor’s Retreat Community, South Carolina

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Bachelor’s Retreat was established by John Verner in 1812. He had three sons, Ebenezer, Limuel, and David, who were bachelors well into adulthood. Ebenezer and Limuel eventually married, but by that time, the community was coined “Bachelor’s Retreat.” The bachelor part was eventually dropped, and the area is now known as Retreat.

Retreat Presbyterian Church is believed to have been started in 1836. some sources list the date as newer. Land was donated in the 1850s to build a house of worship, which was completed in 1860. Despite struggling to maintain members, the church remained active until 1968. The church has fallen into disrepair a couple of times, and it has been restored at least twice. The grounds are well-maintained. I did not venture up the steps of the Greek Revival building.

-South Carolina, Churches and Temples

Built in the 1840s, Cool Springs Primitive Baptist Church Still Stands Today in Greenville County

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The Cool Springs Primitive Baptist Church was organized in the 1830s, and by the 1840s, this wood-frame church was built. The church used this building until the 1950s when a brick church building was erected to replace the wooden building.

-Georgia, Black History, Churches and Temples

Bean Creek Missionary Baptist Church-White County, Georgia

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The Bean Creek Missionary Baptist Church is located in the Bean Creek Community. The community supposedly got its name when a man was riding along the creek when the sack of beans he was carrying burst open and landed in the water. The beans eventually took root.

JH Nichols donated one acre of land in 1863 to be used for worship. A log cabin that once stood across the street served as the first place of worship. The current church was built in 1955.

The Bean Creek Cemetery sits on the hill behind the current church structure. Burials date back to when the church was first founded. The cemetery and church are still active.

-Tennessee, Abandoned, Churches and Temples, National Register of Historic Places

Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Bell Buckle, Tennessee

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Built in 1883, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church is in the picturesque town of Bell Buckle, Tennessee. The Gothic Revival church is now abandoned. It is a contributing property to the Bell Buckle Historic District.

-Tennessee, Churches and Temples, National Register of Historic Places

Historic Beth Salem Presbyterian Church in Wartrace, Tennessee

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The congregation of Bethsalem Presbyterian Church began in 1816. In 1890, the congregation built this new church in Wartrace. It is now known as the Bethsalem Community Chapel and can be rented out for events. It’s a contributing building to the Wartrace Historic District.

-South Carolina, Black History, Churches and Temples, Historic Photos

Mulberry AME Church-Abbeville, South Carolina

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Mulberry AME Church was organized in 1871. Like many churches in the South, the congregation began meeting in a brush arbor, a shelter constructed with poles covered in tree limbs and hay. It was named after a mulberry tree near the church.

A log structure was completed in 1872. Another building was built in 1878 and used until 1918 when it was lost to fire. The current Carpenter Gothic church was completed in 1919. Mulberry is the mother church to the St. Paul, St. Peter, and Shady Grove AME churches in Abbeville County.

This is a 1939 drawing of the church created during a WPA Survey of State and Local Historical Records.