What Is the Brick Baptist Church?
This is the oldest church on St. Helena Island and the birthplace of the Penn Center!
What Makes It Historical?
Enslaved folks built this church by hand in 1855, and for six years, they weren’t even allowed to sit front and center in it! Instead, if they wanted to attend service, they had to sit high up and out of sight on an open-air balcony! All that changed when the Union took Port Royal in 1861! They gave this church to all 8,000 newly freed slaves in the area, though only 1,000 were active members!
During this Reconstruction period, Brick Baptist Church set itself up as a teaching church, which played well into the arrival of two Quaker missionaries, Laura M. Towne and Ellen Murray, in October 1862. Whereas the year before, Black folks weren’t allowed to read, now, here in the heart of the Brick Baptist Church, a new school by and for them was growing! This church also led to the foundation of the area’s Adam St., Ebenezer, and First African Baptist Churches!
How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?
- Volunteer at the Penn Center!
- Become a member of the Penn Center!
- Be a responsible visitor! Please respect the signs and pathways, and treat all structures and artifacts with respect. They’ve endured a lot to survive into the present. They’ll need our help to make it into the future!
How Do I Get There?
85 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Dr
St Helena Island, SC 29920
(Take Me There!)
When Should I Visit?
Services are every Sunday at 10:00 AM!