Stawberry Chapel

STRAWBERRY CHAPEL - 1725 Chapel of Ease St. John's Parish Berkeley

Strawberry Chapel - 1725 Chapel of Ease to St. John's, Berkeley

The name "Strawberry" was early applied to the bluff on the eastern side of the Western Branch of the Cooper River, which bluff was granted in a tract of 1200 acres on July 14, 1698 to James Child who came to the Province from the County of Buck, England.

The story goes that during the oppressive reign of James II in England, Child refused to surrender a copy of a charter of liberties granted to the Parish of Amersham in Buckinghamshire by Henry IV. Child was certainly in Carolina by Nov. 9, 1693 when an undated will witnessed by Child was proved. Then in 1698 he received the 1200 acre grant.

In this same neighborhood, Child acquired 1500 additional acres in four grants dating from 1709 to 1716. The first written reference I have found to the name "Strawberry" is in the Act of Feb. 17, 1705, concerning the establishment of the Ferry and authorization of Child to collect tolls. This Ferry continued to play an important role in the transportation and economy of the section for years. The boat brought worshippers to church, brought the countryside to fairs, and planters to and from Charles Town. Robert Pringle's Letterbook of 1744 and 1745 notes that rice transports stopped here, and surely the plantation dugouts and barges were frequently there.

Child's plat of his town "Childsbury" states that the town was laid out in 1707. The next conveyed a one-half interest in this property and the ferry to his son, Isaac Child. Streets in the town were named Craven, Mulberry, Church, Ferry, Blackwell's and Bay. There was a "College Square" on one end of Bay Street, on which were also located a Market Square and the school tract. By 1712 there was a tanhouse which Child leased to William Skinner.

When Child died, by Aug. 29, 1720, when his will was proved, he left 1 1/2 acres in the town for a church and burying ground, land for the market square, for a citadel to protect the town, a lot for a house for a schoolmaster and for a free school for the education of the inhabitants of the vicinity who supported the Ferry, interest from 500 pounds to insure that the schoolmaster was paid, land for a college or university, a 600 acre common on which each inhabitant could pasture two cows. He also made provision for certain funds toward financing the public buildings of the town. The name "Strawberry" was early applied to the bluff on the eastern side of the Western Branch of the Cooper River, which bluff was granted in a tract of 1200 acres on July 14, 1698 to James Child who came to the Province from the County of Buck, England.

Various persons invested in the town. A plat, dated Sept. 25, 1714, shows lots by number. Stephen Sarrasin, Merchant, purchased seven of these lots (8, 9, 10, 20, 21, 28 and 29) on the condition that he build two houses thereon within one year. In 1733 John Lloyd, Esq., a wealthy Carolinian, refers in his will to his house and lots in Childsbury. Child appears to have lived on the part of the property, which he called "Luckins Plantation."

In 1723 an Act provided that public markets be here every Tuesday and Saturday "without payment of any toll for three years." Two fairs of four days each were also authorized, one in May and one in October.

An Act of Dec. 9, 1725, stated that a church had already been built here voluntarily by the people of the locality. This Act designated that church as a Chapel of Ease to St. John's, Berkeley, and required the minister to conduct services here every fourth Sunday, making it convenient for people in that locality to go to church one Sunday in each month.

In March of 1731 the Trustees of the free school at Childsbury Ferry presented a petition to the Council relative to the legacies left the school. To be a trustee one must have subscribed at least 100 pounds to the school. At that time the trustees were Hon. Thomas Broughton, The Lieutenant Governor; Rev. Mr. Thomas Hasell, Anthony Bonneau, John Harleston, Nathaniel Broughton, Thomas Cordes, and Francis Lejau, Esq. In 1733 an Act authorized the Free School. One Schoolmaster named Dutarque became responsible for the story "Little Mistress Chicken" as written by Mrs. Gordon Rose, when he left the seven year old Catherine Chicken, daughter of George Chicken and granddaughter of Isaac Child, tied to a tombstone until in the night. Undated fragments of a deed of partition between Harleston, Thomas and Ball, heirs of large tracts near Childsbury, is in Bk. D-D, p. 210.

Even though this was the only practicable ferry site on that section of the River, the town appears to have disintegrated and lots abandoned. An 1806 plat showed 15 buildings here at that time, but. the town streets were gone. The unhealthy location was probably a contributing factor. The property was claimed by Child's relatives. The name "Childsbury" disappeared and the name Strawberry, survived in the Chapel, which has been used only occasionally for many years.

The Child's property included what became Rice Hope, Strawberry Ferry, Clermont and Elwood Plantations. Here at Childsbury the British Forces landed from transports and marched under Governor Littleton in the Keowee expedition against the Indians. Here, also, Col. Wade Hampton burned four boat-loads of stores of the British who were camped near Biggin Church.

The Race Track here was very popular. For a time the "Strawberry Jockey Club" held its annual meetings at Strawberry Ferry Plantation. In 1822, when the Club was dissolved, the race course was plowed up and is said to have been planted in corn.

In his Plantations of The Carolina Low Country, Stoney tells of the burial of the Church silver by church warden Keating Simons Ball in 1865 under a barn or rice mill at Comingtee to save it from Northern troops. Some have said that the tankard, chalice and paten were gifts from King George. Others say George I. These three pieces are said to bear the inscription, "St. John's Parish, in South Carolina, in America," which might imply that they once belonged to Biggin Church. Other pieces include a silver-gilt chalice, said to be of French design and used by the Huguenots in France and brought by them to Berkeley County.

After having been buried for 82 years this silver was located by use of a mine detector. Additional information may be found in articles by Judge H. A. M. Smith in Volumes 14 and 15 of the South Carolina Historical Magazine and in Dr. Irving's A Day On The Cooper River.

Information and Article from "Historic Ramblin's Through Berkeley" written by and used with permission of Mr. J. Russell Cross