South Carolina Travel Guides

About half-an-hour north of Beaufort, there’s a place in the woods which has become one of the low country’s favorite secrets. The ruins of the Old Sheldon Church are found down a tiny road, in a forest of towering oaks draped in Spanish moss.

The Prince William’s Parish Church was originally built around 1750, but was burnt down by the British during the Revolution. It was rebuilt in in 1826, and once again met a violent death during the Civil War, finding itself in the thoughtlessly destructive path of General Sherman. Since then, it’s been left to ruin.

But what ruins they are! Somehow, huge bricked walls with intact archways have defied gravity and stand up tall, while a number of columns sprout from the ground as though in competition with the oaks. Scattered around the site are a number of graves, some too worn to read, some mostly sunk into the ground. Within the church sits the tombstone of William Bull, who was of great assistance to Oglethorpe in the layout and development of Savannah, and is whom Bull Street is named after.

For immediately apparent reasons, Old Sheldon Church is a popular place for wedding portraits. If you find yourself anywhere in the area, and it’s a sunny day, make the trip over. It’s an unforgettable scene.

Location on our Day Trip Map

South Carolina Hotels and Inns

Historical Sketch Of Tomo-Chi-Chi

The second of Savannah’s squares to be laid out was Percival Square, later renamed to honor Georgia’s last royal governor James Wright.

The marble monument in the middle of the square is to William Washington Gordon, a successful businessman and politician, highly-regarded in Savannahian society. When he died, his influential friends demanded that the city honor him with a lavish memorial in Wright Square. “There should be no trouble”, they reasoned, “right now, there are just some troublesome Injun bones. Move them away!”

They were the remains of Tomochichi, who had been buried in the center of the square 144 years ago, as a way to thank the Indian chief for helping out the colony in its harrowing first years. Citizens were outraged about this insult to one of the city’s most important founders. In consolation, a memorial stone was placed in a corner of Wright Square, and the nearby Tomochichi Federal Building was named in his honor.

There’s always something going on in Wright Square. During our time in Savannah, the northernmost bench in the square has been the hocking place of a big old man who sings the blues, all day long. Last time we were there, he was singing, “Girl, you done me wrong. GIRL, you done me so wrong. Girl, I wish you was dead”. We had just bought delicious (and outrageously overpriced) sandwiches at a nearby shop called Zumzi’s, and sat down on the other side of the square to listen to a scraggly old guitar player howl out classics like Desperado.

Location on our Savannah Map

- One of the movies filmed in Wright Square is “Cape Fear”

When we went to the Colonial Park Cemetery, I also shot a video to give a better impression of the park, but I never got around to posting it. Enjoy this look at one of Savannah’s most beautiful areas.