Dedicated to Preserving and Protecting the Historic Structures of South Carolina

A Nonprofit Membership Organization Working for South Carolinians Since 1990.

Headlines + Happenings

July 19, 2023

Preservation South Carolina is pleased to announce that we have secured the purchase of the nearly 200-year-old Taveau Church in the rural Berkeley County community of Cordesville.

Last year we informed you of our desire to save this crucially important piece of African American history in South Carolina, and now we will be able to begin that process.

Taveau Church was constructed ca. 1835 for Martha Caroline Swinton Ball Taveau, on the lands of the former Clermont Plantation along the Cooper River. After her death in 1847, a Black Methodist congregation used the church. 

In the 1930s Clermont Plantation became part of the larger Mepkin Plantation and the owners of Mepkin, the Luce family, donated the church to the Taveau Methodist Church congregation. In 1974, the United Methodist Church closed Taveau.

Today, there are two remaining congregants of Taveau, who have but one wish: that their church be saved. 

Thanks to a grant from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Preservation SC is to begin stabilization. 

Preservation SC and the greater Cordesville community wish to preserve Taveau and its history for future generations, and to make it an active and engaging place. 

"We are grateful for the partnership with Preservation South Carolina which, literally, comes at the last hour. The next hurricane or high windstorm in the Lowcountry could have been the end of this important landmark and we didn’t want another plaque where there needed to be a landmark." – Cynthia Gibbs of Taveau Legacy Committee

As always, we thank you for your continued support of our efforts to preserve and protect the historic and irreplaceable architectural heritage of our state. We look forward to keeping you informed on this important project!

Preservation South Carolina

PO Box 506

Prosperity, SC 29127

803.729.7782

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