Mulberry Chapel Methodist Church

Mulberry Chapel Methodist Church is one of only a few extant African-American churches in South Carolina dating from the first twenty-five years after the Civil War and is a rare example in the South Carolina Upstate.  Located in rural Cherokee County, South Carolina, it was built in approximately 1880, and contains a cemetery with approximately twenty graves, and some unmarked graves.  Many of the headstones date from the late nineteenth century and may be the graves of former slaves. The most prominent figure associated with the cemetery is Samuel Nuckles, a former slave who served in the 1868 Constitutional Convention and represented Union County in the South Carolina House of Representatives during Reconstruction, between 1868 and 1872.  Mulberry Chapel Methodist Church retains a high degree of historical integrity. The essential features include its rural setting, vernacular methods of construction and Gothic Revival design, and the historic cemetery. The structure itself is in need of structural repair, as more recent deterioration is readily apparent.

Do you have information on the history or ownership of Mulberry Chapel? If so, reach out to us here.

Photo courtesy of Joe Johnson

Are you interested in helping to protect Mulberry Chapel? Consider donating to Upstate Preservation Trust’s Stabilization Fund. When giving your donation, write a note that says “Endangered Places.”