About Saint James the Greater · Walterboro, South Carolina
St. James the Greater Mission is a small rural Roman Catholic mission in southern Colleton County, South Carolina, situated on a Lowcountry 'island' locally known as Catholic Hill about twelve miles south of Walterboro. Founded in the early 1830s by Irish Catholic planters and their enslaved laborers, it is one of the oldest continuously used African American Catholic parishes in South Carolina and the Diocese of Charleston. The present one-story, cedar-shingled Gothic Revival church, built in 1935, shares its small campus with a 1901 schoolhouse and an antebellum cemetery, and the entire historic site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. Today the mission is served from St. Anthony Parish in Walterboro by Rev. Bruce C. Barnett, with Sunday Mass celebrated in English at 12:30 p.m.
- Established
- 1833
- Patron
- St. James the Greater (the Apostle)
- Rector
- Rev. Bruce C. Barnett
- Diocese
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston
Why belong here
St. James the Greater is the heart of one of the oldest African American Catholic communities in South Carolina — a living link to a parish that has worshipped on this same lowland rise, 'Catholic Hill,' since 1833. Visitors are welcomed into a small, historic church (120 seats) where the same family lines that kept the faith alive through slavery and segregation still gather for Sunday Mass at 12:30 p.m. The mission is also a destination for anyone interested in Black Catholic history, antebellum architecture, or the remarkable story of rural Catholic education in the Lowcountry.
Mass times at Saint James the Greater
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sunday: following the 12:30 p.m. Mass
Parish Identity & Campus
St. James the Greater Mission sits on a low sandy 'island' that rises above the surrounding Lowcountry swamp about twelve miles south of Walterboro, in an unincorporated community locally known as Catholic Hill. The roughly one-acre campus contains three contributing historic resources on a single parcel: the 1935 church, the 1901 schoolhouse, and the active cemetery whose graves date back to 1835. Live oak and magnolia shade the cemetery, while pine, cedar, and Florida anise shrubs frame the church and schoolhouse. The mission belongs to the Beaufort Deanery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston and is administered as a mission of St. Anthony Parish, 925 South Jefferies Boulevard, Walterboro.
- Type: Mission (Roman Catholic)
- Deanery: Beaufort
- Diocese: Charleston
- Parent parish: St. Anthony, Walterboro
- Seating capacity: 120
- Registered households: 18
History
The parish is among the oldest African American Catholic communities in South Carolina. It was founded in the early 1830s by Irish Catholic planters from the Colleton District under Bishop John England, and grew quickly when the large Bellinger–Pinckney plantation family converted and brought their enslaved laborers into the Church. After the original frame chapel burned in 1856, the freed Black community at Catholic Hill kept the faith alive for thirty-four years without a resident priest. In 1892 Pallotine Fr. Daniel Berberich, SAC, rediscovered the community and helped them rebuild; a school followed in 1901 and the present church in 1935. The mission was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
- 1831: Bishop John England organizes the Colleton–Beaufort–Barnwell ecclesiastical territory.
- December 10, 1832 (some sources 1833): First St. James church dedicated on 'Catholic Crossroads.'
- 1845: Growth of the Black congregation prompts founding of St. Philip's, Walterboro.
- April 12, 1856: Original frame church destroyed by a runaway field fire.
- 1860s–1890s: Catechist Vincent de Paul Davis holds the community together without a priest.
- 1892: Fr. Daniel Berberich, SAC, arrives and begins saying Mass.
- 1894: Second church built.
- 1901: Two-story I-house school built with support from St. Katharine Drexel.
- 1935: Present Gothic Revival church built, designed by Fr. Michael McInerney, funded by the Denby family.
- 1960: St. James School closes with integration.
- 1999: Front porch and handicap ramp added to church.
- 2014: Modern rear wing added to schoolhouse.
- September 29, 2015: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Architecture & Historic Buildings
The mission's built environment is nationally recognized for its historic integrity. The 1935 church is a rare, essentially unaltered rural Gothic Revival church clad entirely in cedar shake shingles, with a brick foundation, a central steeple, an open bell tower, and a small sacristy/office wing. The 1901 schoolhouse is an intact vernacular I-house with weatherboard siding and an enclosed front porch. Together with the cemetery, they form what the National Park Service describes as 'an extremely rare example of a rural, southern, African American Roman Catholic parish, in continuous existence from its antebellum origins to today.'
- Church (1935): Gothic Revival, cedar shake shingles, brick foundation, central steeple, open bell tower.
- Architect: Fr. Michael McInerney (Catholic priest-architect).
- Benefactors: Mr. and Mrs. Edwin H. Denby.
- Schoolhouse (1901): Vernacular I-house, weatherboard siding, enclosed front porch; rear wing added 2014.
- Cemetery: Active burial ground with graves from 1835 to the present; stone sarcophagus of James McKain (d. 1835) at the southwest corner of the schoolhouse.
Cemetery
St. James Cemetery is unusual among African American burial grounds in the American South for its Catholic identity and biracial composition. The earliest readable gravestone is that of Diana Bolen, born into slavery in 1806 and freed at her death in 1899; the only white marker of comparable age is the stone sarcophagus of Irish founder James McKain, who died in Colleton County in 1835. Older graves lie on the northeastern half of the property and face south; later twentieth- and twenty-first-century burials occupy the western half and face east. The cemetery remains in active use.
- Oldest gravestone: Diana Bolen (1806–1899).
- Founding Irish-American grave: James McKain, stone sarcophagus.
- Period of significance for the National Register: 1835–1960.
St. James School (1901–1960)
Constructed in 1901 with support from St. Katharine Drexel, the mission's two-story I-house schoolhouse was one of the earliest Catholic schools for rural African American children in South Carolina. At its peak it educated more than one hundred local Black pupils, regardless of religious affiliation, throughout the era of segregation. Teachers were African American women from Charleston and, later, graduates of St. James School itself. After the parish lost a degree of autonomy when the school closed with integration in 1960, the building continued in parish use and received a modern rear wing in 2014.
- Built: 1901
- Closed: 1960
- Funded in part by: St. Katharine Drexel
- Teachers: African American women from Charleston and St. James alumni
Clergy, Staff & Administration
St. James the Greater Mission is administered from St. Anthony Parish in Walterboro and shares its pastoral and office staff with that parish. Parish records and sacramental correspondence are handled through the St. Anthony rectory.
- Pastor: Rev. Bruce C. Barnett
- Administrative Assistant: Mary McCollum
- Parish Contact: Nicole Patz
- Mailing address: c/o St. Anthony, 925 South Jefferies Boulevard, Walterboro, SC 29488
Visiting Catholic Hill
The mission is an active place of worship and a National Register historic site, set on a small rise above the surrounding swamp twelve miles south of Walterboro. A 1966 historical marker erected by the Colleton County Historical Society at Catholic Hill identifies the site of the 1832/1833 first church and the 1856 fire. A front porch and handicap ramp added to the church in 1999 improve accessibility for Sunday worshippers. The active cemetery is open to descendants and visitors who respect its sacred character.
- Historic marker: 'Catholic Hill' (1966, Colleton County Historical Society).
- Accessibility: handicap ramp added 1999.
- Setting: rural Lowcountry 'island,' live oaks, magnolias, cedar and pine.
National Register of Historic Places (2015)
St. James the Greater Catholic Mission was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 29, 2015, under Criterion A (education, ethnic heritage: Black, religion) and Criterion C (architecture) at the local level of significance. The nomination recognizes the property as a rare, historically intact African American Roman Catholic parish complex whose church, school, and cemetery together embody the unbroken continuity of Black Catholic worship on this site since 1833.
- Listed: September 29, 2015
- Reference No.: S10817715010
- Areas of significance: Architecture, Ethnic Heritage (Black), Education, Religion
- Period of significance: 1835–1960 (with key dates 1901 and 1935)