ABC - Ava & Bella's Church Project

Bella and I selected St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church due to the eye catching beautiful structure of the church we noticed on our tour. The architectural style of the church is Ancient Greek and the denomination is Roman Catholic. We thought it was interesting that the Church was completely enclosed by gates and has huge columns holding it up.St. Mary's Roman Catholic church can be found at Hasell Street, Charleston, SC 29401.

The Church's building/property was purchased in 1789, but this first structure was was a brick church that burned in the Charleston fire of 1838. Reverend John Carroll sent Reverend Matthew Ryan to Charleston from Ireland to start a parish, making St. Mary's the first Roman Catholic Church established in the Carolina's and Georgia.




The graveyard was more on the smaller side and it surrounded the outside of the Church in a rectangular shape with grass and plants growing around and inside it. Names found in the graveyard were predominately Irish, French, Spanish, and Scottish. Among the more famous names, Marquis de Grasse can be found in St. Mary's, a French naval commander who engaged British forces at Yorktown during the American Revolution. His two granddaughters are buried there as well.

The most popular grave markers in the graveyard were die on socket style. There was a large grave marker that stood out of what appears to be Jesus holding a crucifix and a rose. The names on each grave stone varied. Inside the church, all the windows were stained glass telling the story of Jesus' crucifixion and the ceiling was painted with angels, The altar is painted with the image of  Jesus on the cross with angels playing trumpets that says "Hail Full of Grace. The Lord is With Thee.


The graveyard is open to the public Monday through Sunday from 8AM to 5PM. The hours of operation for the Church are from 8:30AM to 4PM Monday through Saturday and 12PM to $PM on Sundays.

Link to our video: https://youtu.be/NzsQWPL_pC4