Historic Church Tours

Learn about Flat Rock History

Tours of St. John in the Wilderness

FLAT ROCK, N.C. Tours of the Episcopal Church of St. John in the Wilderness in Flat Rock will resume on March 15.

The guided tours of the church and churchyard (cemetery) are led by church docents. “One of the joys of attending a beautiful holy place like St. John in the Wilderness is sharing it with our visitors. Our history is intertwined not just with the history of Flat Rock, but with that of coastal South Carolina, the home of our founders and earliest congregants,” said Polly Morrice, one of the docents leading the tours.

Held on the third Saturdays of the month from March through December, tours start inside the Carriage Door entrance of the Church promptly at 11 a.m. and last about an hour. Additional tours are held seasonally on the first Saturday of the month from June through September. There will be no rain dates and participants are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes.

The tours are free but advance reservations must be made online through the church's website, www.stjohnflatrock.org/tours. Space is limited for each tour.

The historically significant churchyard contains graves of distinguished political figures and local citizens as well as those of unnamed 19th-century enslaved persons.

“As docents, we strive to communicate the sweep of what happened and how it shaped us, the good and the sometimes painful,” Morrice reflected. “We do like to remind visitors that St. John is not a museum, but a vibrant, welcoming church. We’re still moving forward, and welcome all who would like to make more history with us.”

The church is located at 1895 Greenville Highway. For more information call the church office at 828-693-9783 or visit www.stjohnflatrock.org.

St. John in the Wilderness History

In 1827, Charles Baring, a member of the Baring banking family of England, built a home in Flat Rock. He and his wife, Susan, wanted a summer place to escape the oppressive heat, humidity, and malaria of the South Carolina Lowcountry where they lived.

The Barings built a chapel on the property of their newly constructed home. Soon after it was built, the small wooden structure burned down in a woods fire. In 1833, work began on a second church built of handmade brick.

In August 1836, the Barings deeded their chapel to the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, and 20 members of the Flat Rock “summer colony” of Lowcountry planters and merchants formed an Episcopal parish. In the 1890s, St. John in the Wilderness became part of the Diocese of Western North Carolina; it is the oldest parish in that diocese.

With almost all its congregation traveling home to the Lowcountry after the summer season, the church operated mainly during that season for its first 120 years. So rapid was the growth of the Flat Rock summer community during the 1830s and 1840s, however, that the parish membership outgrew the small chapel. In the early 1850s, the decision was made to rebuild the church, doubling its size. The English chapel-style structure that stands today is, with only a few minor modifications, the church that was completed in 1852.