Phase One complete on historic Eccles church

By Jessica Brodie

HUGER—Phase One is now complete on an effort to restore the historic Eccles United Methodist Church in the Francis Marion National Forest.

Eccles’ original building, constructed in 1882 and tucked deep within the rural area northwest of Mount Pleasant, has been slowly declining over the years because of extensive rot, heavy wood deterioration, weathering damage and some biogrowth. Churchgoers worship in a modern structure next door, but they wanted to restore the historic original building.

In spring 2022, a historic preservation class at the American College of Building Arts in Charleston spent the semester analyzing the historic building and then producing a master plan with research, condition assessments and remediation suggestions.

Nancy Platt, Eccles member who is spearheading the restoration, said the work by Artis Preservation Contractors is expected to cost roughly $75,000. 

Recently, contributions enabled them to replace the roof. Also, under the tutelage of Professor Markus Damwerth, the carpentry students at the American College of Building Arts in downtown Charleston completed the eighth of ten window restorations over the past two spring semesters.

Once the key structural issues are addressed and the final two are restored, the windows will be installed.

Platt said they are aiming for spring 2025.

She said the final two structural issues lie in disintegrated corner timbers and in the erosion of some of the supportive bricks that elevate the church. They are currently seeking estimates and have reached out to several local preservation contractors.

Eccles organizers established Eccles UMC as a charitable entity and created a GoFundMe campaign at https://www.gofundme.com/f/eccles-umc-preservation-project. They also set up a Facebook group to encourage support for the project at https://www.facebook.com/groups/266805578870292.