St. Paul’s Parish, one of the ten original parishes of colonial South Carolina, was created by the Church Act of 1706. Its first parish church was built in 1708 on a bluff overlooking the Stono River. The parsonage and outbuildings were destroyed during the Yamasee War of 1715. After St. John’s Colleton Parish was created in 1734, a new parish church for St. Paul’s was built 8 mi. northwest in 1736. The ruins of the church foundation and a few graves are all that remain of the first St. Paul’s, Stono. Robert Seabrook (1652-1710), buried here, served as high sheriff of Colleton County in 1698, as a captain of militia in 1706, and as a member of the Commons House of Assembly from 1706 to 1709, serving as Speaker in 1706. His wife Sarah (d. 1715) and their son Benjamin (d. 1717) are also buried here.