St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Episcopal church in Charleston, United States.
St. Philip's Church is an Episcopal house of worship in Charleston that displays colonial-era architecture with classical details. The building features three Tuscan porticoes, Roman columns, and high Corinthian arcades that define its street-facing presence.
Established in 1680, St. Philip's is the oldest European-American religious congregation in South Carolina. Its first wooden church stood at Broad and Meeting streets until a 1710 hurricane damaged it; a replacement on Church Street was finished in 1723 and burned in 1835. The present church went up in 1835–36, with the steeple added between 1848 and 1850.
The churchyard holds the graves of John C. Calhoun, seventh vice-president of the United States, and of Charles Pinckney and Edward Rutledge, both signers of the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence respectively. Mary Roberts, the first female American miniaturist, was buried here in 1761, as the parish register records.
The church is open to visitors during specific hours that vary throughout the week, so it helps to check ahead before visiting. The main entrance faces Church Street, making it easy to locate in downtown Charleston.
The church steeple served as a navigation light for ships entering Charleston harbor, a role it held from 1893 until 1915. The tower was briefly reactivated for this purpose in 1921 before the practice ended.
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