Chapter Seventeen

Bamberg County Churches - Page Seven

Histories of Active Churches - Ehrhardt

A picturesque location with moss-draped trees is the location of Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church on Highway 601, four miles north of Ehrhardt. The church was organized in 1885 in the Charleston District with the Reverend W. A. Clarke, minister of the Colleton appointment, as the first pastor. In the 1890s the parsonage was on the corner of Franklin and Main streets in Ehrhardt. Pleasant Hill is a white wooden structure in front of a well-kept cemetery. The focal point of the interior is a lighted stained glass picture depicting Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The choir to the left of the altar has a piano and the opposite choir is accompanied with an electric organ. Across the rear of the church are three Sunday School rooms.

St. James United Methodist Church was built in 1901. Construction of the church was directed by Lewis A. Brabham, who donated his services. It is recalled that Mr. Brabham instructed his workers that no curse words would be used during the building and that each day would begin with prayer. Mrs. M. T. Johnson of Bamberg, when a girl living with her parents near Olar, helped her father and workers load the wagon with supplies to stay in Ehrhardt during the week, returning home during the weekend until the church was complete. It was at St. James that a meeting was held in February 1909 to make plans to organize a Baptist Church in Ehrhardt. This church is now known as Ehrhardt Baptist Church.

Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church was organized some time before 1837. The exact date is not known, but an old grave in the cemetery is dated 1837, and the church was already there at that time. The original location of the church building was at the right of the cemetery. The church is now located on Highway 641 near the junction of 641 and 601. It is near where Folk’s Old Mill was located. The present tract of land was donated by H. C. Folk. An addition was made to the right of the original church structure in the early 1900s.

Zion Church was organized by families of the Clear Pond Community and what is now known as the Hunters Chapel Community. The original church was built on the east side of the Lemon Swamp at Howell’s Mill Pond on the Walterboro- Midway Road. The date of the organization and construction of the building is not known. Because of the health conditions of the Clear Pond Community, members died and families moved, leaving mostly families of the Hunter’s Chapel Community. The location of the church was then inconvenient; therefore, several of the families decided to build a new church. In 1898 the present church was built on lands given by N. B. Rhoad, Capt. R. J. Steedly, and D. C. Hunter. Part of the land in the cemetery was given by Dr. S. P. Rentz. The original church was left as center since members of the original founders were buried there. Dates on some of the markers in the cemetery at New Zion show that they were originally buried at Old Zion.

Ehrhardt Southern Methodist Church began meeting in August 1964 at the Ehrhardt School Auditorium. After about a month it started meeting in the Ehrhardt Lion Club hut. After meeting there for approximately three years, property was purchased on Broadway Street (Hwy 601) in front of the Ehrhardt School. This property consisted of a small house that is now used for a Fellowship Hall and a parcel of land. The present building was constructed in 1967 and 1968.

Many people ask what is the difference between this church and the other Methodist churches. The primary difference is that in the Southern Methodist Church the members own and control the property instead of having it belonging to the Conference. Another difference is that we hire and fire our own pastors.

Another difference is that the Southern Methodist Church as a whole accepts the doctrine of inerrancy, meaning that the Holy Bible, God’s Word, is the inerrant word of God. This is the doctrine that usually divides churches between Conservative and Liberal and this doctrine of inerrancy is one doctrine the congregation is proud of. After all, who are we as mere mortals and the creation of God to tell God Almighty what should go into His Word.

In 1984 the Ehrhardt Baptist Church celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary with the theme, “Alert and Alive at Seventy-Five.” The following history is taken from a book written by the late Lucretia Brabham Winburn, a former clerk and active church member.

Citing the Baptist Courier February 4, 1909, “Last Sunday I had the pleasure of organizing a church in Ehrhardt, a flourishing young town in Bamberg County. The town is the terminus of the Walterboro railroad. It has about five hundred inhabitants. Seventeen grown persons went into the organization. T. M. Bailey, Cor. Sec.”

Quoting from an article from the Bamberg Herald, county newspaper, February 6, 1909, written by the late Arthur W. Brabham, “J. A. Chassereau of Ehrhardt went to Bamberg to meet Dr. T. M. Bailey, of Greenville, who was on his way to Ehrhardt to organize a Baptist Church. On February 4, a blizzard of extremity struck killing crops, gardens, and flowers. On February 8, the temperature in Ehrhardt was zero degrees. On February 9, the day of the Ehrhardt Baptist’s organization, the temperature reached no higher than 15 degrees.”

Four families came from St Johns Baptist Church to help the Ehrhardt Baptists. Having moved their families the four-to-five miles into town, they desired a worship house in town and left St. Johns with no ill will but rather with the blessings of the church. The original four were Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Kinard, Mr. and Mrs. George Kinard, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Chassereau, and Mr. and Mrs. J. E. McMillan.

J. C. Kinard offered the tract of land for the building. Records in the office of Clerk of Court in Bamberg indicate that Charles Ehrhardt, Jacob Ehrhardt, and W. S. Folk deeded land to the Ehrhardt Baptist Church February 15, 1909; the papers were signed by G. B. Kinard and J. A. Chassereau, deacons.

Until completion of the church building less than a year later, services were held in other churches of the town, especially St. James. The edifice was built on the corner of what is now named Madison and Allen streets, the front facing Allen Street.

Kearse United Methodist Church derived from Mizpah United Methodist Church around the year 1895. Church services were held in the White Point school house while the church building was being constructed.

Mr. Lewis Brabham contracted the construction of the new building. Men from the community gave of their free time and labor to help with the work.

The original Kearse Church burned around 1945-46. Renovations had begun on the old building and during the painting a swarm of bees was found in the walls. Mr. Ewart Brabham and the other workers were trying to smoke out the bees and accidentally started a fire. Unfortunately, they could not put it out and the old pump organ was the only thing saved. The organ was stored in an old building and soon disintegrated. There was no insurance and the members wondered if they could ever rebuild. After the church burned, services were held in the Emily Kearse Community Building (known as Kearse’s Hut) for about two years. The Hut was built by the WPA during the Depression in 1933-35 and was used for years as a community gathering place. New members were added to the rolls at this time, including Mrs. L.O. Brabham and Lulu Belle Brabham. There was no Sunday School during this time. The congregation started to have fund raisers to build a new church. There were suppers on Friday nights and barbecues were held at the Rivers Bridge Confederate Memorial Celebrations for three years. All food and drink supplies were donated by church members. The Reverend Herbert Boulware was the minister during this time and helped tremendously with these fund-raising events.

World War II ended in 1945. The government demolished chapels at the Charleston Naval Base. With the help of Senator P. Eugene Brabham of Bamberg, S.C., one of the buildings was secured and moved to the present site. Since the Kearse-Brabham family cemetery was located on Highway 64, it was decided to build next to the cemetery if the land could be secured. Mrs. Louise Kearse and Mrs. Neilie Best were appointed to approach Mr. C.F. Rizer, who owned the property, and ask if he would donate the land to Kearse Church. He agreed and deeded one acre for the Church site. The church was completed in 1948.

Mt. Pleasant Lutheran Church, one and one-fourth miles southwest of Ehrhardt, was organized in 1750 by German Lutherans and Dutch Lutherans. It is Bamberg County’s oldest church and the fourth oldest Lutheran church in South Carolina.

For the first eighty-five years of its history, Mt. Pleasant was known as St. Bartholomew and was located about a mile to the south of its present building. There is no trace today of the original building or burial ground.

It is probable that the church moved to its present site in 1835 because a public road there meant greater accessibility for the congregation and a way to attract more worshipers. A name change at that time might have come from the schoolhouse previously occupying the site.

In 1873 a new church building was erected, probably incorporating some of the 1835 materials and plans. There is no evidence that the church building standing when federal troops invaded in 1865 was destroyed.

John Joseph Copeland (1774-1853), the husband of Mary Rizer Copeland (1781- 1860), was the chief planner and builder of Bamberg County’s oldest house. Built in 1795 of six-inch hand-hewn logs, the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. It stands approximately a quarter of a mile west of Mt. Pleasant Church.

Mount Pleasant Lutheran Church (1924-1974)