Grace Episcopal Chapel History

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Antebellum Grace Chapel is part of St. John’s parish, as territorially established in Colonial times.

Originally called the Church on the Rock and classified within the Parish as a Chapel of Ease, Grace was built in 1840 to serve Wadmalaw families who summered in the village of Rockville to escape the heat, mosquitoes and miasma of the plantations.

Grace Chapel was spared during the Civil War, unlike the Parish’s main church, St. John’s, and another summer chapel at Legareville on John’s Island, which were both destroyed by fire.

Parish journals reflect the first reference to the Chapel by the name of “Grace” in the postwar 1870’s when it served as the main meeting house of the parishioners.

Because of unclear title to the land on which the Chapel sat, it was moved to its present location in 1884. Only a shell of a building, improvements were begun, including the Chancel which was built in 1890.

Following the great hurricane if 1893, the Chapel was the site of a meeting held by Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross, who came to organize recovery efforts. Young men of the congregation lined the interior with the Chapel’s distinctive wood paneling as part of the storm damage restoration.

 

In the early 1900’s a new alter was installed; and the porch and belfry were added.

 

The historic Chapel is used today for special services, is occasionally open on tours and is depicted in the movie “Paradise”.