“C” is for Christ Church Parish

“C” is for Christ Church Parish. Located on the low, sandy strip of land southeast of the Wando River in modern Charleston County, Christ Church was one of the ten original parishes created by the Church Act of 1706. With the introduction of rice as a staple crop in the early eighteenth century, Christ Church quickly became a parish of planters and enslaved persons. By 1720 enslaved Africans made-up nearly eighty-six percent of the population of the parish. The first church to serve the parish was a small timber structure built in 1707.  The congregation quickly outgrew the small building, and a new brick church was completed in 1727. The British burned the church during the American Revolution. With the abolition of the parish system in 1865 Christ Church Parish became a part of Berkeley County.