Freedom of religion is one of the basic cornerstones of our country.

A visit to four colonial churches gives us a deeper insight into the strength, the commitment, and the "Faith of Our Fathers."

♪ [soft piano music] ♪ ♪ When Englishmen first came to these shores around 1670 to hold lands for the Lords Proprietors, they came from Great Britain, the Barbados, and brought with them the faith of the Church of England.

Shortly after they conquered a bit of the wilderness and fought the unfriendly Indians, they established here and built Saint Andrews Church in Saint Andrews Parish in 1706.

This has been continually used by parishioners until today, and you will enjoy a visit to Old Saint Andrews Church.

This beautiful colonial church is very active today, with almost 400 parishioners.

The walls are the original, as are the glass panes, hand blown.

The floor is composed of tile brought from England or from the Netherlands.

There's no one buried under the floor of the church!

Outside we have an early grave, 1718, of Thomas Nairn, a royal judge who was negotiating with the Indians, and they murdered him.

However, this has been a family church for many years.

The pews were purchased by an act of 1863, so a family would frequently decorate them with rugs, or cushions, or whatever they wished for their comfort.

In earlier renovations, the height of the pew was cut down to the present size.

In 1723, the side transepts and the chancel were added, giving it the form of the typical Anglican church, the shape of the cross.

The church continued in membership throughout the horrors and financial losses of the American Revolution and the War Between the States.

However, in 1891 it closed with the death of the last minister, John Grimké Drayton.

Until 1948, it was used mainly by the Drayton family for weddings and funerals, although the law of the Drayton wills say that no Drayton woman can be buried in the Drayton family cemetery.

So outside we have a lovely mausoleum to Christina Bull Drayton, who was the daughter of royal governor William Bull.

Within the transept and the chancel, we have many interesting things which I would like to show you.

[footsteps clicking] The top of the baptismal font came from the original colonial church.

However, the ironwork base is more modern.

If you notice, it's in the shape of pelicans, an early Christian symbol and also one of the symbols of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which sent the early ministers to the colonies.

The pulpit is of two steps up in the English fashion of the Anglican Church.

And the reader's stand from which the clerk, so to speak would read the morning service also has, as does the pulpit, a small chair for the comfort of the reader and the minister.

Within the chancel itself, we have many items of interest.

Within the chancel, we find that the altar is covered with a beautiful Oriental rug, which was the custom during colonial times.

The reredos was placed in the church in 1723.

It's of hand carved black cypress and contains on the three panels the words decreed by the edict of 1604.

We have the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles' Creed.

We understand that during colonial days, these were frequently necessary because very few people had prayer books, and indeed a great number of people couldn't read.

The minister would line out, or "sing," a stanza of a hymn to have it followed by the singing of the congregation.

Within the chancel, the tiles are Dutch, and we notice the altar railings have been replaced by metal, quite possibly to prevent disintegration due to mildew as well as time.

I wish that we could mention everything in this charming colonial church, but before we leave, I would like to show you something in the cemetery.

♪ Life and death are concerns of the Church, and here at Saint Andrews, we find something very interesting.

This is a holding vault.

Long ago, long before the funeral parlors of today, we find that people would place the body of the departed within a plain coffin and then slide them within the holding vault, where they would remain until the formal funeral service within the church and then the interment of the body within the cemetery proper.

We've thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this beautiful place.

Old Saint Andrews Church is delightful, and you, too, will enjoy a visit here.

♪ ♪ As we enter Goose Creek Church, Saint James, in Berkeley County, we feel that as we walk upon these old stones, we are indeed treading the path of history.

This is the oldest church community in this particular area of South Carolina and it's one of the oldest within the continental United States.

The building itself is made of handmade brick, stuccoed on the interior and exterior to keep the brick from suffering the damp of the Low country, and it's indeed very beautiful.

Among the first settlers were many of the Church of England faith known as the Goose Creek Men.

Many other Protestants who were not Church of England settled here and became known as Dissenters.

The history of the early colony under the Lord's Proprietors into the early 18th century is a very fascinating one and a story within itself.

At one time, these two groups of Protestants almost had a religious war in the area.

But the Church Act of 1706 established Goose Creek as one of ten parishes.

The parish was terribly important at the time not only for worship of God, but also as a gathering place and a local voting area.

Men were elected from the parishes to serve in the colonial assembly, later in the state legislature, and this continued until 1865.

But within the church itself, men worshiped, until a building was begun here in 1707.

The ministers were missionaries sent from England by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

You'll notice over the front door the symbol of the pelican, which is the symbol of that society.

There has not been a regular minister here since 1808.

Until then, various gentlemen filled the pulpit, coming according to the season, the weather, or even the height of the water because the ministers and many parishioners found it necessary to come here by boat.

The interior of this rectangular church has the box pews, which are unusual not for box pews, but the fact that the benches are on three sides as opposed to two, which we find in other colonial churches.

Indeed in the balcony, we also find the box pews.

The church has many fascinating stories, and the beginning of the church is noted in the area of the altar.

The chancel area of St. James is built in the English fashion.

The chancel itself is in the shape of a half circle.

There is no altar railing for communion.

Rising from the half circle, we have, in the English fashion, the pulpit, which is reached by the minister by a series of steps.

Above the pulpit is the sounding board, which was very useful to amplify the voice of the minister so the entire congregation could hear every word that he said.

The most interesting feature of the church, however, is the royal coat of arms which we find above the sounding board.

This preserved the church during the American Revolution when the British soldiers saw it there because it's one of very few in the American colonies to possess this coat of arms.

On either side of the chancel, we have boxed pews which could have served a choir.

At this time, few churches had any type of musical instrument.

The minister could sing one line of a hymn, and then the choir and congregation would repeat the line as he sang it.

A second major feature of Saint James is a hatchment.

Now, in heraldry, a hatchment is a gentleman's coat of arms in a square frame, which upon his death would be put outside his home on the point of the diamond, so to speak, indicating that the master of the house had died.

After a period of mourning, the hatchment would be moved to his parish church and kept there This was a custom of the times in England, but we find it very rarely in colonial America.

Above the side door, we have the monument to Ralph Izard, whose hatchment we see here.

Ralph Izard was a staunch Federalist, supporting Thomas Pinckney and John Rutledge at the time when our Constitution had just been signed and our country was very, very young.

♪ The British spared the church during the American Revolution as we have mentioned due to the royal coat of arms, but the congregation was greatly diminished.

However, in 1846, the church revived again and continued until the War Between the States.

During that terrible period, the communion service and all church records were destroyed.

The church revived again in 1876, but the earthquake of 1886 did tremendous damage to the building and completely destroyed the coat of arms.

A lady had made a painting of it for a Northern historical society, and consequently, the arms were able to be reproduced and positioned as you see them today.

A church service is still held here each Sunday after Easter in the afternoon, and a very interested vestry, who've almost inherited the responsibility of this beautiful place, has kept it alive.

The painting of the walls corresponds to those colors of the miniature done in 1803 by the famous miniaturist Charles Fraser.

It's a beautiful place.

You will enjoy a visit here as we have.

The phrase that has come to mind, to me is Goose Creek Saint James... is a sanctuary of solitude.

♪ The roots of South Carolina lie in every part of the Old World.

Here in Fairfield County, our roots are of Scots-Irish people who immigrated from Ireland through Charleston or down the Great Wagon Road from the port cities of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.

Here they settled and formed an association of the Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church.

This division between the ARP, or Associated Reformed, and the Presbyterian Church occurred a long time ago in Scotland before they immigrated to this country.

The congregation was first in a log building about 2 miles west of here.

In 1788, this beautiful church was built.

It's had many names.

It's been called Little River Church, Ebenezer Meetinghouse, the Brick Church, and now for a hundred years, it's been affectionately called th e Old Brick Church.

The bricks themselves, set in Flemish bond pattern, were made by original members of the congregation.

They used their feet to mix the mud and mortar, their hands to shape the bricks, which they fired in a kiln they had built.

It's a beautiful church.

Let's go inside... you'll thoroughly enjoy a visit!

The interior of the church has been restored as it was originally.

It is a plain church because within the Scottish Kirk, all attention was brought toward the altar and the Bible, the Word of God.

We understand that the pews are original, made by the men who built the bricks of the exterior.

Under each is a footrest, because services were held in the morning, then a picnic lunch interrupted the services, and they opened again in the afternoon.

In the interim, the children were instructed in the catechism of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.

Interestingly enough, the women sat on this side of the church, and the gentlemen on this side.

The first minister, Mr. James Rogers, educated in Glasgow, came not only as the minister for this group, but also as the teacher of the Jefferson Academy in nearby Monticello.

One of his students was the first student to enroll in South Carolina College, which is now the University of South Carolina.

Education has always been of primary importance to those of the Scottish faith, and schools, or academies, were always built near a church.

In 1777, the Mount Zion Society in Winnsboro organized the Mount Zion Institute to educate the young men of the Upcountry.

The society was formed by gentlemen from Charleston, such as General William Moultrie, and other people of the Upcountry for the education of young men.

[footsteps echoing] We have the pleasure today of seeing an original Bible on this beautiful pulpit and the original communion service brought by the first settlers from Ireland.

The Communion table is here... the original benches in the way in which Communion was served.

Members of the congregation would be seated on the benches.

First, elders and other members of the church would receive the bread and wine.

There was no musical instrument in the church, but the preceptor would sing a line of a song All of the songs from the Holy Bible, the Scriptures themselves, and then the line of singing would be repeated by the congregation.

We are told that the pulpit originally was in the center of the church, and that the pews faced in its direction, and originally there were two balconies, within this church, each reached by an outside door and an enclosed stairway leading to the balconies.

During the Civil War, this entire area was devastated, and this church was desecrated by Union soldiers.

It seems that the Confederates, and fleeing from the Northern armies, burned the bridge over Little River, and the Northern forces used the floor and sills of the Old Brick Church to rebuild the bridge for their own use.

A message was left on the wall.

This has been covered with glass an d you may read it today.

"Citizens of the community, "Please excuse us for defacing your house of worship so much.

"It was absolutely necessary to effect a crossing over the creek."

Signed, "A Yankee."

The congregation was decimated following the War Between the States, and it wasn't until 1891 that again the congregation became active.

This continued until the 1920s.

Today the Old Brick Church is sleeping, but it welcomes visitors to its lovely environs and this beautiful old churchyard.

But every other year in October, a service is held here, and the current congregation is welcomed into this beautiful old building by the kilted Scottish bagpiper and drummer.

So the Scottish Kirk lives on.

♪ For 253 years, there's been a very active congregation of the Zion Lutheran Church here in Lexington County.

The church itself was organized in 1745, but we know that services were held as early as 1735.

The church itself has a fascinating story.

Many people of German descent came to the New World, particularly those seeking relief from religious persecution.

After South Carolina became a crown colony, Queen Anne of Great Britain granted large tracts of land to varying denominations.

A tract known as the Saxe Gotha tract was given to German people here in what is now Lexington and Richland Counties where they could live, provide themselves with farms, educate their children in schools, and have a new life in the new world.

We know there was no regular minister prior to 1757, although the people did the best they could to have a minister come and hold services within the Lutheran faith.

A church was built at this spot, as this lovely monument notes, here on Twelve Mile Creek and Corley Mill Road.

However, before the church was built, and possibly at other times, services were held in private homes with the hymns, the Scripture, and possibly reading a sermon.

In such a private home, a very interesting situation occurred.

♪ Across Twelve Mile Creek was the home of a man named Weber.

In 1760, he began to have religious gatherings within his own home, and he was completely carried away with religious fervor, which finally became fanaticism.

He was convinced he was God the Father; a friend of his, God the Son; and a third man, God the Holy Spirit; and Mrs. Weber, became the Virgin Mary.

He would have great sermons and prayers and claim to be able to work miracles, because, during his prayers, he would beg God for thunder, and the people gathered in his home would hear thunder.

Little did they know, it was someone in the attic rolling stones together.

Finally, Mr. Weber decided to resurrect someone from the dead.

So, the man pretending to be, or believed to be the Holy Ghost was covered with a feather bed, and Mr. Weber prayed so long and earnestly that by the time he raised the feather bed, the poor Holy Ghost had almost suffocated.

Eventually, Weber turned against the man who believed he was God the Son.

Weber believed this gentleman was instead Satan himself.

So he trapped him, tortured him, and killed him.

Weber was tried for murder and hanged.

♪ The first church was possibly saved during the American Revolution by the quick thinking of one of the members of the congregation, Mr. Godfrey Dreher.

Mr. Dreher's home had been built as a fort in order to protect those who sought shelter within it from either Indian raids-- because this was quite near the Cherokee Path-- or from the invasion of the British.

Word came that a detachment of British were approaching, and with quick thinking Mr. Dreher sent everybody within the house up to the second floor.

He had an old violin, a drum, and a few chains.

He told everyone what to do.

So, when the British approached, he started shouting orders, as if there were a great number of armed men within the house!

Upstairs this medley of noise came with the violin, chains, and drum.

Finally one Britisher burst open the door, and Dreher shot him.

At that, all the British soldiers fled, and his home and the first church were saved.

The year in which our Constitution was formed, 1787, a group of the German Reformed Church and the Lutheran Church combined themselves in a body called the Corpus of Angelicum.

This was for two purposes... one, to become a legal organization, whereby they could vote, and also to be able to ordain ministers because educated ministers were greatly needed.

And in 1788, the legislature of South Carolina empowered 15 Lutheran churches within this area to carry on in a legal fashion and to help train and ordain gentlemen of the faith.

♪ In 1792, Zion moved to a new location, as attested to by this monument.

It's 200 yards from the Saluda River.

The move was necessary because many of the congregation lived across the river.

They could leave their wagons and horses there and come across by boat.

This was a large frame building and served the congregation for 130 years.

Being close to the river had a disadvantage though.

At one time the waters rose so high, that the floor of the church was under 3 or 4 inches of water.

Members of the congregation by boat came to the church and were able to save the hymnals, and the Bibles, and other items which could have been damaged by the flood waters In 1922, it was realized that no longer was it necessary to have access across the river.

In 1797, a petition had been made to the state legislature to form a ferry so members could come on the Sabbath day.

During the week the ferry could be used for ordinary passengers, the funds used for upkeep of the church.

This was no longer needed in 1922.

And so, again, Zion Lutheran Church was moved away from here, closer to the homes of the members of the congregation.

♪ The brick church of 1922 burned in 1944 and was replaced on its precise spot.

In 1976, extensive renovations and expansions occurred.

Zion has much to contribute to its area.

It's the mother church of at least eight other churches.

It helped establish the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Lexington in 1833 to answer the need, which is constant, of educated ministers, and it is the oldest continuing congregation in Lexington County.

Martin Luther would have been so proud.

Faith of our fathers... we need it still.

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