Mary Jenkins Community Praise House, Plantation-era worship building in St. Helena Island, South Carolina
The Mary Jenkins Community Praise House is a wooden-frame structure with a gable roof and entrance positioned at the gable end on St. Helena Island. This simple building from the early 1900s continues to serve as a place for worship and community gathering.
Built around 1900 by Kit Chaplin, the praise house is one of four remaining structures of its kind from the post-plantation era on St. Helena Island. It represents religious independence that the community established after slavery.
The praise house is where you can witness call-and-response singing and communal worship that embodies Gullah Geechee spiritual traditions. The way people gather here reflects beliefs passed down through families over many generations.
The praise house is located on Eddings Point Road on St. Helena Island and continues to function as an active worship and community meeting space. Visitors should be respectful, as this remains a place where the community regularly gathers.
A bell at the praise house has traditionally announced important community moments, from births to deaths to calls for worship services. This simple signaling system has linked residents together for many decades.
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