St. James Baptist Church, Hilton Head Island

Denomination

Baptist

Founded

August 1886, in Mitchelville

Sunday

Call or check the site for service times

Cares for

Cherry Hill School, Union and Drayton cemeteries

St. James Baptist Church is one of Hilton Head Island’s oldest congregations, at Dillon Road and Beach City Road on the north end of the island. It was founded in August 1886 by former members of First African Baptist Church who wanted to keep a place of worship in Mitchelville, the freedmen’s town the U.S. Army set up on the island in 1862. Visitors describe a warm welcome, strong singing and preaching.

Sunday Services and Times

The church’s site does not post its Sunday service times in text. Call (843) 681-6446 or check the church’s site, which also has a livestream page, before you go.

The Church’s History

The first sanctuary, a two-story wooden building, burned in the early 1940s along with its contents, and a second wooden church replaced it. The present brick sanctuary, covered in stucco, was built in 1972 and renovated in 2005; a state historical marker stands in front. The church also cares for two native islander burial grounds, the Union and Drayton cemeteries.

The Cherry Hill School

Across the road is the Old Cherry Hill School, a one-room wooden schoolhouse that was the first and only freestanding school built for African American children on Hilton Head. It taught grades one through six, with one teacher and about 30 pupils, from 1937 to 1956. St. James bought it in 1956, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. The building is used by the church and is not open as a museum; view it from the road.

A Planned Move

The church sits inside the Hilton Head Island Airport’s runway protection zone. The Town, Beaufort County and the congregation have agreed a plan to build a new campus, and the church will keep worshiping in its current building until it is ready.

More Churches

See First African Baptist Church, the congregation St. James grew from, and all Hilton Head churches. For the history around it, visit Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park.