“C” is for Church of the Cross

“C” is for Church of the Cross (Bluffton). Sited on a wooded bluff above a curve in the May River, the Church of the Cross is a beautiful and serene lowcountry chapel. The handsome cruciform Gothic building was consecrated in 1857. It was built of cypress with a shingled cypress roof. Entered through an arched door under a trefoil window and flanking shuttered lancet windows, it opened to an interior with exposed pine beams, box pews, a gallery for enslaved persons, pale pink plaster walls, and rose- tinted glass windows. The architect, Edward Brickell White, successfully adapted high style Gothic revival motifs to a rural wooden church in a style that has become known as “Carpenter Gothic.” The Church of the Cross is a small architectural gem; it was listed in the National Register of historic places in 1975.