St. Helena's Episcopal Church
Founded in 1712 with its sanctuary built in 1724, St. Helena's Episcopal Church anchors Beaufort's historic district, its walled graveyard shaded by ancient live oaks. During the Civil War occupation, Union forces used it as a hospital, reportedly laying flat gravestones across the pews as operating tables.
The graveyard's most retold legend belongs to Dr. Perry, a planter-physician who treated yellow fever patients in the mid-1800s and lived in terror of being buried alive, since fever victims often slipped into deathlike comas. He instructed his family that should he die, he be entombed with a jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and a pickaxe, so he could eat, drink, and dig his way out.
When he died in 1845, his above-ground brick vault was stocked exactly so, then bricked shut.
📍 505 Church Street, Beaufort, SC 29902, Beaufort, SC · Get directions