Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Gothic Revival church in McClellanville, United States.
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is a wooden-frame building in McClellanville featuring Gothic Revival design with a square steeple and peaked roof. The structure sits on Drayton Street alongside its cemetery, which together form the historic property.
The congregation built the church around 1872, the date usually given for its construction. The one-story frame building on Drayton Street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, together with the cemetery on its grounds. The listing recognizes the building as a vernacular Gothic Revival church with a pedimented gable-front roof and a square-based steeple.
The name Bethel, meaning "house of God", follows the naming tradition of African Methodist Episcopal churches founded after emancipation. The congregation worships in a vernacular Gothic Revival frame building raised around 1872, and a cemetery lies on the same Drayton Street property. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
The building is located in McClellanville, a small rural community in South Carolina that is easy to navigate on foot. Visitors should check opening times in advance since it remains an active church with regular services.
The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, which is why its 1872 frame structure and the cemetery on the grounds are documented as a single historic property. The listing covers the church and its graveyard together on Drayton Street.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,693 contributors worldwide.