Old Sheldon Church Ruins
March 31st, 2009
While driving from Charleston to Savannah on vacation with the DeSpairs a couple weeks ago, I managed to convince them to take a detour to the ruins of the Old Sheldon Church in South Carolina. (It had been built in the 1740’s, burned down by the British, rebuilt then burned down again by Sherman’s army in 1865.) I took a roll of film shot with my beloved Holga camera and they turned out very nice, indeed. Please take a look and let me know your thoughts.
Those are truly fantastic.
I don’t know where you are from, so I can’t comment on what is near you, but the Charleston area is chock full of sites like this. You could spend weeks documenting all the church remains, derelict graveyards, and abandoned histroic sites.
Those pictures took my breath away. They look almost exactly how I imagine Thornfield Hall looked at the end of Jane Eyre.
@M Well, I’m originally from Northern California but now reside in Chicago, but yes, I’d love to spend time in the Charleston area looking at all those marvelous sites. As it is, I was there with family and, you know how that goes. I managed to get them to throw me a few bones, but not many…
@Paula Thank you!
@MoxieHart That is a most marvelous compliment!
Those photos are gorgeous. Clearly a perfect place for the Holga. I think it enjoyed the cemetery as much as you did.
Despair,
Your eye and that camera produce such feeling and mood.
I love your photography!
Thank you again,
Morgana
Anytime, I’m just glad that you understood it. Although I was certain you’d read Jane Eyre. I’m rewatching the BBC miniseries and I loooooove Toby Stephens as Rochester.
Beautiful b/w photography. I love the soft focus around the edges, makes it seem so ethereal. Thornfield Hall is a good comparison, MoxieHart! I also thought of Rebecca’s Manderley (because that’s what the FIRST Mrs. de Winter would have thought).
Say, I wonder what the church looked like before it was razed for the second time. I looked for images online and saw only photos of ruins. Strange that people schedule weddings and receptions for this place. The words “barren”, “abandoned”, and “ruins” don’t spring to mind when I think of crazed nubile couples in search of a wedding locale.
Just wanted to echo all the compliments so far. Hauntingly gorgeous photos. I keep coming back to look at them. I want to go to there…
Wow. The composition is fantastic, and the black and white adds to the air of sadness to the picture. This is one hella great picture!
@ Peking Goose: Ha! I still haven’t gotten to reading Rebecca, I should though. I would so get married there, if I believed in marriage.
@Maika Thank you!
@Morgana Thank you Morgana!
@MoxieHart I read Jane Eyre in high school. We had to draw novels to read and critique out of a hat and the girl sitting next to me drew Albert Camus’ The Stranger – which was one of my favorite books. I was so upset that she got Camus and I got… friggin’ Jane Eyre! Blech. But as a good student, I sat down and began to read it… and I was immediately engrossed. It is a brilliant novel – and along with Wuthering Heights – is one of my all-time favorites.
@Peking Goose I haven’t read Rebecca either… Must do.
@Desmodus Thank you, Des!
@liz_doxtator Thank you.
@MoxieHart I would so get married there too… if I believed in marriage and if they let people like me get married!
@Comtesse
Ha! I was assigned Jane Eyre as part of summer reading, along with A Tale of Two Cities and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I was mostly freaked out by the length and tiny tiny print of all these books. I ended up loving Jane Eyre up to the part where she moves in with St. John’s family, then I just wanted her to hurry up and get back with Rochester.
I changed my mind, I don’t want an actual wedding there. I just want lots of pictures of me in a pretty Regency-style dress there.
It is still a consecrated church, not really a ruins. Church services are held 2nd Sunday after Easter every year. Use for weddings is scheduled through St. Helena Episcopal in Beaufort.