St. James Church

This United Methodist Church was originally named Pearl Street Methodist Episcopal Church. Its first trustees were Henry Brown, Abner Black, Wesley Dargan, Zeddidiah Dargan, January Felder, Randolph Hart, and Rev. B. Frank Whittemore. Tradition says Federal occupation troops supplied the church bell after taking it from nearby St. John's Academy. In 1866, freedmen founded the church with aid from the Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary Society. The first minister was Rev. Liverus Ackerman, and the first building, also used as a school for freedmen, was completed by April 1866. The second house of worship dates from about 1883, and the present building was completed in 1960.

Darlington, South Carolina · United States