Pompion Hill Chapel, Cooper River, south side, Huger, Berkeley County, SC

2016 Charles E. Peterson Prize, First Place
Significance: Pompion Hill is one of South Carolina's best-preserved chapels of ease and is known for its unaltered Georgian interior and exterior. It is significant in regards to its architecture, association with historic figures, and role within the religious community and social structure of early south Carolinians. Pompion Hill Chapel was listed on the National Register in 1970.

The Chapel at Pompion Hill is the best surviving example of Anglican rural parish church architecture in the Lowcountry, if not the Western Hemisphere. While its holistic design is indicative of common English church-building practices of the early modern colonial period, the Flemish bond, mortar details, and transomed shutters distinguish it as a product of Lowcountry vernacular traditions. The interior fittings remain largely intact, save the nineteenth century pew bench replacements. Nonetheless, Pompion's design reveals the 18th-century Anglican liturgical focus on a balance of scripture and sacraments; the juxtaposition of the altar and the pulpit are positioned facing one another.

The remoteness of the site and infrequent use since the twentieth century contributes to the chapel's retention of original fabric and the fortunate maintenance of an authentic setting. Pompion Hill Chapel is located on a remote stretch of the Cooper River, isolated from major population centers. The seclusion and distance from Cainhoy Road have contributed to keeping the building, landscape, and churchyard unaltered over the last 250 years. The site is experienced today, much as it has been for all of its history, with uninterrupted views of the natural landscape and no modern conveniences with the exception of watercraft that pass. The land across the Cooper River is a wildlife preserve and a National Forest surrounds the general area.

The detail of the pulpit has great commonality with the pulpit at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Charleston. The entire pulpit was replicated from the Batty Langley pattern book, plate 114; this illustrates the connection of the Anglican Church in Colonial American to England. The intricate pulpit built in the fashion exported from England, it demonstrates the pride and material wealth that the plantation owners and parishioners invested in this structure.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N2176
Survey number: HABS SC-34
Building/structure dates: 1763 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 2007 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 70000567