Charleston is the Holy City

Gray Line Charleston  – BLOG December 2018
Historic Charleston, South Carolina is often called ‘The Holy City’. This is due to the large number of beautiful Churches which are historic and built with fantastic Architecture. Additionally, building are not supposed to soar higher than the highest Church Steeple in keeping with the historic nature of peninsular Charleston. Below is the location of, and a short description of the main Churches in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
122 Broad Street – Broad & Legare Streets Charleston SC 29401
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, located in Charleston, South Carolina. Opened in 1907. Gothic Revival Architecture.

Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul
126 Coming Street Charleston SC 29401
The Cathedral Church of St. Luke and St. Paul, located is the cathedral of the Diocese of South Carolina. It was originally known as St. Paul’s Radcliffeboro. Construction began in 1810. Gothic Revival Architecture.

Circular Congregational Church
150 Meeting Street Charleston SC 29401
Circular Congregational Church was used by a Congregation established in 1681. Gothic Revival and Romanesque Architecture.

First Baptist Church
48 Meeting Street Charleston SC 29401
First Baptist Church Charleston saw the congregation founded in 1682 under the leadership of William Screven. It is one of the oldest Baptist congregations in the American South first under the First Baptist Church in Maine.

First (Scots) Presbyterian Church
53 Meeting Street Charleston SC 29401
The congregation was established in 1731 when a dozen Scottish residents left the Independent Church of Charleston, now the Circular Congregational Church. The oldest and largest of the area’s Presbyterian Churches.

French Protestant (Huguenot) Church
136 Church Street Charleston SC 29401
Founded in 1687, The Huguenot Church, also called the French Huguenot Church or the French Protestant Church, is a Gothic Revival Church.

Grace Episcopal Church
98 Wentworth Street Charleston SC 29401
Grace Church Cathedral, located in Charleston, South Carolina, is the diocesan cathedral of the Episcopal Church in South Carolina. The parish was founded as the city’s fifth Episcopal Church congregation in 1846. Gothic Revival Architecture.

Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim
90 Hasell Street Charleston SC 29401
Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, founded in 1749, is one of the oldest Jewish congregations in the United States. The congregation is nationally significant as the place where ideas resembling Reform Judaism were first evinced.

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church
110 Calhoun Street Charleston SC 29401
Founded in 1816, Emanuel AME is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the Southern United States; this was the first independent black denomination in the United States.

The Old Bethel Methodist Church
222 Calhoun Street Charleston SC 29401
Old Bethel United Methodist Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The building was originally built at 55 Pitt St. at the corner with Calhoun St. in 1797-1798 for the Bethel Methodist Church congregation. Greek Revival Architecture

The Old St. Andrews Parish Church
2604 Ashley River Road Charleston SC 29414
The Old St. Andrews Parish Church is the oldest surviving church building in South Carolina. The church building was built in 1706. It was expanded to its current cruciform plan in 1723. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.American Colonial Architecture.

St. John’s Lutheran Church
5 Clifford Street Charleston SC 29401
St. John’s Lutheran Church is the “Mother Church of Lutheranism” in Charleston and in South Carolina. With a history spanning over 250 years, she is among the oldest of congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

St. Mary’s Catholic Church
89 Hasell Street Charleston SC 29401
St. Mary of the Annunciation Roman Catholic Church is the first Roman Catholic parish in the Carolinas and Georgia. The current building is the third structure to house the congregation on this site. The property and an old building were purchased in 1789. Ancient Roman Architecture.

St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church
405 King Street Charleston SC 29401
The German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Charleston, South Carolina, called to Grow & Serve in Christ’s Love, was incorporated on December 3, 1840.

St. Michael’s Church
14 St. Michael’s Alley (corner of Meeting & Broad Streets) Charleston SC 29401
St. Michael’s Church is an historic church and the oldest surviving religious structure in Charleston, South Carolina. It is located on one of the Four Corners of Law, and represents ecclesiastical law. It was built in the 1750s by order of the South Carolina ecclesiastical law. It was built in the 1750s by order of the South Carolina Assembly. Georgian Architecture.

St. Philip’s Church
142 Church Street Charleston SC 29401
St. Philip’s Church is an historic church at 142 Church Street in Charleston, South Carolina. Its National Historic Landmark description states: “Built in 1836, this stuccoed brick church features an imposing tower designed in the Wren-Gibbs tradition.

The Second Presbyterian Church
342 Meeting Street Charleston SC 29401
The church, built in the Jeffersonian style is the fourth oldest church structure in the city. 

Unitarian Church in Charleston
4 Archdale Street Charleston SC 29401
The Unitarian Church in Charleston, home to a Unitarian Universalist congregation, is an historic church located at 4 Archdale Street in Charleston, South Carolina. It is “the oldest Unitarian church in the South” and is a National Historic Landmark. It is the second oldest church in downtown Charleston. Gothic Revival Architecture.