Histories of Hilton Head Island Churches

While the written records of when Central Oak Grove Baptist Church was organized do not exist there can be some reasonable assumptions based on recorded Deeds and other information.

Based on Deed records, a parcel of land to the north of Zion cemetery was conveyed to Good Will Baptist Church by Adam Green, et al in March, 1887. This was a portion of the lands conveyed to Green and others at a tax sale in 1875.

The church’s Trustees on the 1887 deed were: James Brown, Minus Graham, Charles Garvin, George Greaves, J. B. Grant, Caesar Permelia and R. F. Greaves.

At some point the congregation at Good Will changed their name to Oak Grove Baptist Church.

In August, 1956, the Board of Deacons sold the property to Honey Horn Plantation for $1.00 and acquired the former Chaplin School across Matthews Drive which had been purchased by Honey Horn Plantation from Bluffton School District No. 2 in April of that year. The congregation has continued to worship at that location since that time.

The membership of the church currently numbers about 200. The Reverend Louis Johnson is the pastor and has been serving the congregation for about 20 years.

161 Matthews Dr
Hilton Head Island, SC 29926
Phone: (843) 681-5784

A report in The New South newspaper, dated 30 August 1862, describes the organization of the First Baptist Church of Hilton Head – now known as the First African Baptist Church – the oldest church on Hilton Head Island.

The newspaper account reported that the church was established with about 120 members, all contrabands. “Of these nearly 70 were professing Christians under the rule of their late masters, while the others have been converted and baptized since our advent among them.” [The New South newspaper 30 August 1862 page 3]

The church was organized and the pastor ordained on Sunday, 17 August 1862, with the assistance of Union soldiers who had established a major presence on Hilton Head Island and had brought freed slaves (“contraband”) from surrounding plantations to the Island.

The first Pastor was Abraham Murchison, a former slave from Savannah, who was literate and a leader in Mitchelville – the first self-governed freedman’s town in America.

In a report from Major General O. M. Mitchel to S. P. Chase, Secretary of Treasury, Mitchel states that “Yesterday, which was Sunday, a little church, built for the negroes, was consecrated to the worship of Almighty God.” [Cincinnati Daily Gazette 1 November 1862 page 3] The date appears to be 12 October 1862, two months following the organization of the church.

The congregation moved to the Chaplin Community for a brief time, where they adopted the name Goodwill Baptist Church, and moved to the present location in 1889 where they initially took the name Crossroads Baptist Church before adopting the present name First African Baptist Church.

The church continues to be an active congregation with approximately 300 members.

70 Beach City Road
Hilton Head Island, SC 29926
Phone: 843-681-6427

The 1950’s saw the beginning of development on Hilton Head in what is now considered the modern era. Before the bridge was opened in 1956 homes were being built and a few families had moved to the island.

Several of the new families with Baptist backgrounds starting meeting on Sundays for bible study and fellowship. With help from Ridgeland Baptist Church a meeting was held on Thursday, July 16, 1956, to organize the Hilton Head Baptist Sunday School and elect officers. The first service of the newly established group was on August 5, 1956, with 56 people in attendance.

The Baptist Church of Beaufort adopted the Hilton Head Baptist as a mission in December, 1957, and arrangements were made to construct a building for Sunday School and worship services on 5 acres of land on the South Forest Beach Drive that was donated by Sea Pines Plantation Company. The building was dedicated on July 6, 1958.

By late in 1961 the members desired to organize as a separate church and on February 18, 1962 the mission church formally became the First Baptist Church of Hilton Head. Lacking support from the Baptist Church of Beaufort for this change, the new church began meeting at the William Hilton Inn and later at the home of Mr. & Mrs. Frank Wilson while a new building was constructed on Woodward Avenue.

The membership grew and more space was needed than could be added at Woodward Ave. so in March 1976 an agreement was made with the Sea Pines Company to exchange the Woodward Ave. property for the original mission chapel and acreage. A new building and renovations to the original mission chapel were dedicated in October 1977, and a new sanctuary in 1979.

The church has held an annual Easter sunrise service on the beach since 1957. In addition to regular bible study and worship services, the church has been host to summer missionaries and has been active in missions work both at home and abroad.

From humble beginnings the membership now numbers more than 1,000.

100 S. Forest Beach Drive
Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
Phone: 843-785-4478

First Presbyterian Church Hilton Head had its beginnings when Fred and Billie Hack moved their young family to Honey Horn Plantation in the 1950’s and began to hold church services in a small wooden chapel building on the Plantation. This was before a bridge was built to the island and ministers were ferried across to conduct services.

The formal organization as a Presbyterian church occurred on 11 November 1957. The small congregation continued to meet at Honey Horn until 1965 when a new facility was built on land donated by Fred Hack and Owen McIntosh on William Hilton Parkway – the site of the current church. The membership had grown to 95 by this time.

In 1968 a classroom expansion was built and by 1970 the congregation had grown to 400.

With the membership continuing to grow a new building was added in 1978 that would seat 700. A columbarium was added in 1983 with 1200 units.

The relocation of the Honey Horn chapel building, where the church began, to the church campus on William Hilton Parkway occurred in 1994.

Responding to the continued growth of the congregation, an expansion of the sanctuary was done in 1989 bringing the present capacity to 1,000. The congregation has been generous in sharing its sanctuary with the community, being the largest indoor gathering place on the island.

In 2007 the addition of a 2 story wing was completed with the 1st floor used as a day school. The most recent update to the facilities was in 2012 which included the creation of a gathering space.

With a current membership of about 1245, First Presbyterian continues to be a an active and vibrant part of the Hilton Head community.

Holy Family Catholic Church began as a mission of the Catholic Diocese of Charleston in 1961 when a few Catholic businessmen invited Father John Simonin to come to the island to celebrate Mass. The Mass was held in the former William Hilton Inn with about 40 in attendance – many of which were visitors to the island. As attendance at Sunday Mass grew it became necessary to move the services to larger space at The Adventure Inn.

The Fraser family of Sea Pines Company gifted land for a permanent location and ground was broken for the first building that would seat 340 in December 1971. The Church dedication was held on February 25, 1973.

A Religious Education Building/Parish Hall was added to the campus in 1977.

The number of parishioners grew along with the increase in island residents and plans were developed in 1985 for the construction of a larger worship center. Once the plans were approved by the Diocese and permits obtained construction was begun. A dedication Mass was held on October 30, 1988.

The former church building was converted to a multi-purpose use facility.

Notable additions to the Church campus are the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Stations of the Cross Boardwalk.

There are about 550 active families who call Holy Family their church home.

Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church has its roots in Hilton Head’s first African American church that was established in Mitchelville in 1862, First African Baptist.

Desiring to establish a church in the Pope community several members of First African Baptist Church, under the leadership of Rev. B. W. Williams, left to organize a new congregation in 1914. A small parcel of land on Squire Pope Road was donated by the Miller family and the first church building, a wooden structure, was constructed.

Rev. Williams lead the church until his death in 1939.

The following year (1940) a storm destroyed the church building but the congregation stuck together and built a new building on the same site.

Several pastors served for short periods after Rev. Williams death until Rev. J. C. Simmons assumed the pastorate in 1948. Rev. Simmons served the church for 26 years. During his ministry the congregation grew to more than 100 members and Sunday School, choirs, Men’s and Women’s Fellowship and other auxiliary services were added.

When Rev. Simmons resigned due to illness in 1974, the church chose Rev. Benjamin Williams to lead the congregation. Rev. Williams was installed as full-time pastor in 1975 and served for almost 42 years until his death in 2016.

Under Rev. Williams Mt. Calvary began holding services on a regular weekly basis (Prior to his tenure services had been held on alternating weeks) and the church and her ministries expanded to meet the needs of the growing congregation.

While more land was purchased and additions and renovations to the buildings had been done over the years, a long awaited major construction project was announced in 2021. The dream of a new sanctuary had been fostered by Rev. Ben Williams since the 1990’s but it wasn’t until after his death that formal planning for a new sanctuary was begun.

A building that will seat 300 plus 44 in the choir loft will soon replace the current 135 seat sanctuary that will then be converted into the Ben Williams Fellowship Hall.

“One of the most vibrant spiritual traditions that Mt. Calvary continues to practice is River Baptisms, held on the shores of Skull Creek, near Hudson’s Seafood House on the Dock restaurant.  After proclaiming a belief in Jesus Christ, new church members don white baptismal robes and are escorted to Skull Creek, where they are baptized before other witnessing members, friends and family.”

Following Rev. Williams death the church installed their current pastor, Rev. Dr. Deonia Simmons, in November 1917.

Much of what is known of the early years of Queen Chapel is based on oral tradition with little documentation to establish exact dates and locations. What is documented is when the church had its beginning and when the site of the present church was purchased.

Background: The first African Methodist Episcopal church was established in 1794 by Richard Allen and others when they faced racial discrimination by the white American Methodist’s in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Recognizing that other churches faced many of the same obstacles, Allen helped organize a conference with delegates from Philadelphia, Baltimore and other cities that met in April, 1816, that resulted in the establishment of a religious denomination with the name African Methodist Episcopal.1

“The African Methodist Episcopal Church, dormant in South Carolina from 1822 until 1865 because of white hostility toward Blacks, was re-organized” and “had by the end of Reconstruction established themselves as the second largest Negro denomination in the state.”2

Queen Chapel had its beginning on May 12, 1865 when the Steamship Argo landed on HHI due to a storm when on the way to Charleston. Several A.M.E. ministers were on board and decided to hold a service while they were delayed. The service was held under a large oak tree with prayers and singing, and thus began Queen’s Chapel A.M.E. Church.

There are differing stories about the time and location of the first building and the writer of this report has found nothing definitive. Various sources only say that a building was built a few years after the service under the large oak tree. While some believe that it was in the Town of Mitchelville, other reports suggest that it was located on the former Pope plantation.

What is known is that the property where the church is located today was purchased from W.D. Brown in 1886 and a building was built or relocated on the site in or about 1892. Oral tradition is that the church was built in 1862: however, the hurricane of 1893, caused significant destruction on the island. A report from the period said that only one of eight church buildings was left standing.3 The one church is not identified so it is possible that it was Queen Chapel.

A new building was built in 1954 and served the congregation until 2002 when that building was renovated with the addition of a new sanctuary with seating for 300.

Queen Chapel is an active congregation of approximately 120 members. Space is provided to Sandalwood Community Food Pantry as a service to the community.

114 Beach City Road
Hilton Head Island, SC 29926
Phone: 843- 681-3315

Established in 1886, St James Baptist Church is a church of historical significance because it is the only remaining institution remaining from the town of Mitchelville, the freedmen’s village established by United States Army in 1862.

As the First Baptist Church relocated to another area some former members of that congregation, desirous of a place of worship in Mitchelville, organized St. James Baptist Church. St. James has been a continuous presence and a center of spiritual and civic involvement since 1886.

St. James has served as the caretaker of the Old Cherry Hill School located across the road from the sanctuary as well as being the caretaker of several native islander cemeteries.

It is unfortunate that the early church records were destroyed in 1968 when fire destroyed the house of the church officer where they were kept. What is known is that the first church building and its contents was destroyed by fire in 1945. It was replaced by another wooden structure that served the congregation until the present brick sanctuary was built in 1972.

Changes are again on the horizon for St. James because growth of the Hilton Head Island Airport is forcing the church to be relocated.

The Town of Hilton Head has agreed to purchase the property and build a new sanctuary for the congregation in an area close by but outside of the airport’s “object-free zone. In addition, the Old Cherry Hill School, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, will be relocated adjacent to the church.

Information for this report was gathered from several press clippings and a church history prepared for the church’s 125th anniversary on file at the Heritage Library.

St. James is getting a new building after 91 years of worship on Church Road on the northern end of the island. The little building on the right of the church used to be a school.

• The Island Packet, August 27, 1970