First Baptist Church

The original church, built in 1811, was located at the corner of Sumter and Hampton Streets and was replaced by a second church in 1859. On December 17, 1860, delegates of the first Secession Convention convened at the church to discuss the state’s separation from the Union. The Convention later moved to Charleston where the Ordinance of Secession was signed.

The brick church features a Roman Tuscan portico and pilasters, slave balcony and interior as it would have appeared in 1860. Amazingly, the church survived the “Burning of Columbia” on February 17, 1865, during the Federal occupation. The present church was completed in the 1990s.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the church is also a National Historic Landmark.