| St. Philip's Episcopal Church (c.1838)Organized in 1680, St. Philip's was Charleston's
first congregation. The Church of England was the state church, but the credentials and character
of some early clergymen were dubious--the first pastor of St. Philip's was censured (but not
dismissed) for baptizing a bear cub at a drunken mock ceremony. The churchyard, which antedates
the building by over 100 years, contains the graves of founding fathers Edward Rutledge and
Charles Pinckney, author DuBose Heyward, and statesman John C. Calhoun. Neither a Charlestonian
nor an Episcopalian, Calhoun disdained the decadence of Lowcountry society, but his plantation
(now Clemson) was considered too remote a burial site, especially after the body had been on
display for over three weeks. The gates to the Western churchyard (across Church Street) are
among the oldest and most detailed works of wrought iron in the city.
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