Church of the Cross in Bluffton beams in Bluffton.
Located at 110 Calhoun Street, this historic house of worship overlooks the scenic May River.
The Church of the Cross is a Gothic Revival-style house of worship. General William T. Sherman spared the structure during the Civil War. A prominent Charleston architect, Edward Brickell White, originally designed the church in 1853. After construction completed, the church’s first service took place in July of 1857.
Over the years, the Church of the Cross has survived hurricanes and wars.
It has been attracting new generations of worshipers for more than 150 years. The deadly hurricane of 1898 damaged it and the rest of the building. By February 1900, repairs finished. Workers remodeled the chancel and fashioned from the original pulpit and desk a walnut altar with a stone top, a lectern and a prayer desk. A chapel area was created in the narthex which was easy to heat for the sparse winter congregation.
Bluffton’s Church of the Cross, which has included on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975, features heart pine siding, a cruciform interior, cathedral ceilings and pink glass imported directly from England. Fanned arches with a look of palmettos top its mullioned windows, framed by latticed shutters. The church invites you to come, experience services and see for yourself all that The Church of the Cross offers.
