Old Stone Church

This historic church was constructed in 1802 and was home to a congregation that was established in 1789. the church features a stacked-stone exterior as well as a historic cemetery that serves as the final resting place for many generations of area residents including veterans of the American Revolution. The church was built by John Rusk who is buried in the cemetery along with his wife, Mary Sterritt. While the congregation moved to Pendleton in the decades that followed, the church has been well-preserved and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The stone church replaced a wood structure that had been destroyed in a fire. The cemetery includes the final resting place of Colonel Robert Anderson, an officer in the American Revolution and the namesake of Anderson County. General Andrew Pickens, a leader of local militia, is also buried in the cemetery and the namesake of Anderson County. The congregatoin included enslaved persons as members, but it is worth noting that no African Americans were buried in this cemetery, a fact that reflects upon the thoroughly segregated nature of life in the Revolutionary era and antebellum America. Enslaved persons were nearly always buried in small cemeteries on plantations and marked only with a wooden cross or other symbol that leaves little trace of those burial grounds.

"About Old Stone Church," Old Stone Church, SC, accessed August 19th, 2022. https://oldstonechurchsc.com/about-old-stone-church/.

Old Stone Church and Cemetery, Nomination Form, National Register of Historic Places. November 5th, 1971. Accessed August 20th, 2022.

, South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Old Stone Church and Cemetery, Slave Gallery, Search by County, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed August 20th, 2022. http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/pickens/S10817739016/pages/OldStoneChurch04.htm.