St. Lukes Parish, South Carolina

United States South Carolina  St. Luke's Parish

History
Many Episcopalian St. Luke's parishioners continued to attend St. Helena's, and their christenings, marriages, and deaths were registered there until 1786 when their first St. Luke's Parish church was built in Pritchardville. That church burned down before 1824. In 1824 a replacement second parish church was constructed in Bluffton, half a mile to the east on part of the Bull Hill Plantation. Episcopal services were discontinued there after 1856, and in 1875 the building was sold to the Methodists. The second parish building is also known as the Bull Hill Church or St. Luke's Methodist Church.

The Episcopalian Zion Chapel of Ease, Hilton Head Island, belonged to St. Luke's Parish. The Church of the Holy Trinity, which is now located in Jasper County, also served as a chapel of ease for St. Luke's parishioners.

Before the American Revolution, the state church of South Carolina was the Church of England (the Anglican Church, or Protestant Episcopal Church). Besides keeping parish registers, the church kept many records of a civil nature in their vestry books. The Vestry was as much a political body as a religious one. The wardens and commissioners were responsible for the roads, education, the poor and orphans, voting and collecting taxes in addition to their church duties.

Founded
St. Luke's Parish (Pritchardville, Beaufort, SC) was created in 1767 from the northwest side of St. Helena's Parish in the central part of Granville (1708-1768) County.

Boundary
Borders: the Atlantic Ocean, St. Helena's, Prince William, St. Peter's, and St. Matthew's since 1768 parishes. For a map, see: Early parishes in South Carolina. An overlay of districts is available at Carolana.com.

Areas Served: St. Luke's Parish served:


 * part of historic Granville (1708-1768) 1767-1768
 * part of Beaufort District 1768-1800
 * parts of Hilton, Lincoln, and Shrewsbury counties 1785-1791
 * part of Beaufort County 1800 to present
 * part of Hampton County 1878 to present
 * part of Jasper County 1912 to present
 * a small part of Allendale County 1919 to present

Modern equivalents: The original parish covered parts of what are present-day Beaufort, Beaufort, Jasper, and small parts of Allendale counties.

Parish History
For an early history of the parish, see Chapter 25, St. Luke's Parish, pages 387-388, in:


 * Dalcho, Frederick. An Historical Account of the Protestant Episcopal Church in South Carolina from the First Settlement of the Province, to the War of the Revolution; with Notices of the Present State of the Church in Each Parish and Some Account of the Early Civil History of Carolina, Never Before Published. Charleston: E. Thayer, 1820. ; digital versions at Google Books; Internet Archive.

Websites

 * Church of the Holy Trinity Marker, The Historical Marker Database
 * Zion Chapel of Ease and Cemetery, The Historical Marker Database