St. John's Episcopal Church

Front inscription

The parish of St. John’s, Colleton was created by the S.C. legislature in 1734. It included Johns, Edisto, Wadmalaw, Kiawah, and Seabrook Islands and was previously part of St. Paul’s Parish, one of the ten original Church of England parishes of colonial S.C. The first parish church was built at this site by 1742. It fell into ruin after the Revolutionary War.

Reverse inscription

After the war, St. John’s became an Episcopal church. By the 1830s most St. John’s communicants were enslaved African Americans. The second St. John’s church was built in 1817 and destroyed by fire in 1864 during the Civil War. Members worshipped at Johns Island Presbyterian Church from 1868 until the third church was built in 1873. The current church dates to 1955.