An excursion to the site of four Huguenot settlements near Charleston
Huguenot Cross Site Visit - Martin Luther King Day, 20th January 2014The Board of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina organized a trek to four of the seven sites which commemorate the Huguenot settlements in South Carolina. The sites, French Quarter Creek, St James Santee, St. John's Berkeley and Goose Creek, are located in a semi-circle around Charleston. The three sites not visited on this excursion were the French Protestant Church of Charleston, Purrysburg and New Bordeaux and excursions to the latter two will be scheduled. It was estimated that the total driving time to make the loop from the HSSC office to French Quarter Creek, French Santee, St. John’s Berkeley and Goose Creek would be about 2¾ hours with no stops, but the day included stops at each site and lunch on the Tail Race Canal. The group left the Society about 9:15 am and returned there about 4 pm, a long, but very rewarding day. Before leaving, it was noted that a number of members including Board members, had gotten lost when the Society held its annual meeting at the cross site in St. James Santee in 1931, but the lost were eventually found, although they missed the meeting. Fortunately, for the Board and the Society, no one was lost this time and all are still accounted for.The background of the tour is that in the early 1900s, Henry Augustus Middleton Smith began locating the sites of the early settlements made by the French Protestant refugees in South Carolina. As he located each settlement, he identified the site of the churches erected by our immigrant ancestors and managed to acquire one acre, God’s Acre, at each site which he then turned over to the Society, urging it to erect some type of monument on each. The Society decided to set up large granite crosses at each site and to mark the property with a small granite post on each corner of the acre. The French Church of Charleston commemorates the settlement in Charles Towne which began in 1680 when the Richmond arrived in Carolina. The French congregation acquired Lot 65 (site of the present church building) in 1684 and bought town lots 91 and 93, located on the east side of King Street, just below Broad Street., in 1686.[1]The Orange or French Quarter Creek Cross Site (MapQuest: Use French Quarter Creek Road, Huger, SC) is located on the left about a mile down French Quarter Creek Road off Cainhoy Road. Some of the first known Huguenots to arrive in Carolina on the Richmond in 1680 settled a few miles up the Cooper River at Pompion Hill. A group of French refugees who arrived on the Margaret in 1685 settled nearby and in 1697 César Mauzé left money for construction of a temple (church) on land he owned. By 1700, there were about 25 families (some 101 French settlers) in the area. In 1706 the Church Act established the Parish of St. Thomas (for English settlers), with the parish of St. Denis within its bounds for French settlers who were permitted to have their services in French, provided they used the Anglican liturgy. They were also allowed to haves a French-speaking minister. Their small wooden church is believed to have been at this site and the cross was dedicated in 1916/1922. This site is easily accessible.The St. James Santee Cross Site (MapQuest: Jamestown, SC - down Hwy 45 about a mile from the intersection of Hwy 45 and Hwy 41 and maybe a mile into the farm/forest land which is privately owned. ) There is a marker for Mount Moriah Plantation on the road leading to the site, but there is a locked gate on the road to the cross and access must be arranged by notifying the Society. In January 1687 a group of about 7 or 8 French Protestant immigrants to Carolina traveled by boat from Charles Towne to this site on the Santee River. They then made an overland trip to the site and then returned in March with a group of some 50 men and boys to establish a settlement. By 1700 there were probably a total of about 27 families (some 111 people). The settlers spread both up and down the river, as far as present-day Hwy 17, although one of the first settlers owned an island 25 miles downstream at the mouth of the Santee River. The cross site was sold to the Society by the Pipkin family and the cross was erected 13 Apr 1931 at the Annual Meeting of the Society.The St. John’s Berkeley Cross Site (MapQuest: Use Simpson Creek) is located near Monck’s Corner and Bonneau Beach. It is easily accessible. St. John’s Berkeley was settled by numerous French Protestants, including some from French Santee and Orange Quarter, probably beginning before 1700. The early church is believed to have been located at or near this site and was mentioned as early as 1701. the church building was loaned to Anglican worshippers after the French began meeting at Pooshee Plantation, owned by the Ravenel family. When the God’s Acre was sold to the Society in 1923 by S.M. Harvey there was still a pile of scattered brick on the site. The cross was erected in 1928.The Goose Creek Cross Site (MapQuest: Use Ancrum Road, Ladson). This site is behind a locked gate and fence and is not easy to find – access must be requested from the Society. The area in Goose Creek was settled by some of the early French refugees in Carolina, but the exact date is not known – there was a settlement there by 1686, as well as one across the Cooper River at Orange Quarter and it appears that the Goose Creek site may have been used by French refugees after they first arrived in Carolina, prior to deciding where to settle. After French Santee was settled in 1687, it appears to have taken over this function. In 1695 a French church was mentioned in Goose Creek and in1699 there were about 31 French settlers in the area. It was the site of the plantation of Abraham Fleury de la Plaine and was labeled as the remains of the French Church on a 1785 plat. There are references to gravestones having been seen on the site, but none are now visible. HAM Smith acquired the site and sold it to the Society for $1.00 in 1909. The granite cross was erected at the site in 1910.The trip was not only interesting and fun, it proved challenging as well, since some rather strenuous contortions were needed to gain entrance to the last site visited. The map we had was not correct and several members of the group waded through briars and brambles in a vain attempt to locate the cross. We were rescued by neighbors who led us directly to the God’s Acre. Completely surrounded by lowcountry underbrush, the site was open and welcoming. Despite being only a few hundred feet or so from I-26, the area was quiet and calm and the high canopy of tree branches stretching over it could have been the arches of a cathedral – sunlight broke through the leaves at intervals and it was easy to believe that we were standing on holy ground.The thoughts and emotions stirred by each site were as varied and different as the sites themselves. The Rev. Philip Porcher, Chaplain for the Society, offered a prayer of thanksgiving for the struggles and faith of our ancestors. I think we all rolled beneath the last fence with renewed interest and enthusiasm for the legacy left us by those who lived on these sites more than three hundred years ago.