Angry with the Anglican Church, the Puritan Pilgrams left England in 1620. Their descendants, known as Congregationalists, founded Dorchester in the 1690s, only to endure South Carolina's 1706 declaration of Anglicanism as the colony's official church.

With the Congregationalists worshiping two miles away, St. George's Anglican Church was built here in the center of Dorchester. Village founders and other religious "Dissenters" were even taxed to support St. George's.

Upon completion in 1720, the sanctuary measured 50' x 30'. It was enlarged in the 1730s to meet the needs of its growing and prosperous parish. This bell tower with four bells was added in 1751.

(Upper picture): St. George's Angelican Church may have been a more convenient location for local worship, however, the Congregational Church remained the religious center for most of Dorchester's Puritan settlers.

(Lower picture): By depicting Anglican churches similar to St. George's, 18th century artwork can help us imagine the scene after religious services.

The metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Mrs. A. Wordsworth Thompson, 1899 (99.28) .

Marker is on State Park Road, on the right when traveling east.

Courtesy hmdb.org

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