Greenville County · Marker 23-56
Old Pilgrim Baptist Church
3540 Woodruff Rd., Simpsonville
Front inscription
This church was founded in 1868 by black members of nearby Clear Spring Baptist Church who named their new church Pilgrim Baptist Church. Rev. John Abraham, their first pastor, held services in a brush arbor until a log church was built here. It was renamed Old Pilgrim Baptist Church in 1894. A frame church built here in 1907 was covered in brick veneer in 1962. The present brick church was built in 1983.
Old Pilgrim Rosenwald School
Old Pilgrim Rosenwald School, named for the church, was buil tin 1930. It was one of almost 500 schools in S.C. funded in part by the Julius Rosenwald Foundation from 1917 to 1932. Built at a cost of $3,800 with local funds raised by Henry Locke and trustees of Old Pilgrim Baptist Church, it operated 1930-1954 with three teachers, teaching as many as 83 elementary school students in grades 1-7.