Peace Be To This House

Although the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church was constructed in 1919, the wood that makes up the foundation and framing began on the Cherry Vale plantation in the mid-1700’s.  The Cherry Vale plantation, or the original Frierson plantation, was built in 1754 on the south side of U.S. Highway 76, nine miles west of the city of Sumter and directly across from the present Shaw Air Force Base.

There were nine outbuildings on the premises in addition to the main house.  Across the road from the overseer’s house was the “street” consisting of 3 rows of two-room houses, each with the roof extending out over an earthen floor.  Beyond the overseer’s house stood the plantation chapel, called St. John’s, where services were held for the slaves and the ladies of the Frierson family gave religious teaching to the slaves on the plantation.

In 1886, the owner, John N. Frierson, transferred the chapel building to a man by the name of Rev. Bowen, who moved the building to the neck of land where Highway 261 crosses Highway 76/378 to serve as a church for ex-slaves and their families.  It was known as the Bowen Church.  When the building had been abandoned as a church, it was used as a school until 1911.  The Bowen that is spoken of for whom the church was named and who used it for the purposes mentioned has ties to one of our former members, Mr. Bobby Choice.  The Reverend Bowen was Bobby’s great-grandfather.  This brings the connection a little closer to home.

If the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church would set forth in her history its beginning as an organized mission of the Protestant Episcopal Church, it would take us back about 107 years.  But the nucleus of the present congregation had its inception in about 1906 under the guidance and with the encouragement of the Reverend H. H. Covington, D.D., then rector of the Church of the Holy Comforter here in Sumter.

Our thoughts go back to the little group that first assembled at the residence of Dr. Charles Birnie and for several months held services of prayer there.  Later, an abandoned laundry next door to the Birnie residence was secured and the two or three who had been meeting in His name set about to make their place of worship church lay and comfortable.  Intermittent services were conducted there by the rector of the Church of the Holy Comforter, Reverend Covington.  Around 1911, Dr. Birnie had begun to gather with other local Episcopalians who had a desire to start a Black Episcopal church here in Sumter.

The gentleman who is the founder of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church is Dr. Charles Wainwright Birnie.  He was born in Charleston, SC on May 15, 1874 and was one of six children of Richard Birnie and Anna Frost Birnie. Dr. Birnie and his family were members of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Charleston.  He attended Oberlin College in Ohio and  then received his medical training and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in Philadelphia.  Soon after graduating he came to Sumter to practice until his death in 1938.  He married Ruth Gardenia Harrison, a Sumter native, about 1902 and a few years later sent her to study at Temple University in Philadelphia where she received her degree in pharmacy.  Mrs. Birnie was one of a very few of either Black or female pharmacists in South Carolina at the time that she began her career.  Dr. Birnie was the first Black physician to practice medicine Sumter County.

For about four years the little group passed through a period of corporate inactivity leading up to 1913, when the church went into new quarters in the Lincoln Graded School.  The first service was held there on December 14, 1913 with the Rev. Robert T. Phillips officiating.  According to records, “seven persons were present”, and “it was decided to have service every second and fourth Sunday afternoon”.  The first offering was taken up at the fourth service, January 11, 1914.

But the little group was looking forward to more permanent organization and the creation of a church home.  A church building fund was started then with contributions amounting to $17.75 - this was June 1914.

The organization of the mission took shape, when, on June 29th of the same year, Archdeacon E.L. Baskerville held a conference at the home of Dr. Charles Birnie.  At this conference it was decided to have 500 envelopes printed and distributed among members and friends for purchase of a lot and erection of a church building, to be known as the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church.

Plans were made in 1916 to build the church.  The Reverend Julien Simpkins of Spartanburg, SC left his work and came and gave his assistance in drawing up the plans; Attorney Mark Reynolds of Sumter executed the deed for us; and Mr. H. D. McKnight of this city advised in and superintended much of the work.  About this time, it had been learned that there was an old church building in the Stateburg area, the Bowen church,that, having served its usefulness,was now abandoned and no doubt could be purchased for a modest sum, torn down, and brought to Sumter to help in the erection of the new church.  This was done and quite a bit of framing from the old Bowen Church, as it was known, was used in the foundation and frame of Good Shepherd.  Land for the church was donated by Richard I. Manning, a former governor of South Carolina.  The lot given, on Oakland Avenue a few blocks away, was swapped for land on the corner of Wright and Dingle Streets where the church is presently located.  An unknown friend, “a lady in Philadelphia “, contributed $100; Mr. R. D. Lee of Sumter $100; Mr. Singleton Moore $100; Mrs. M. R. Wilkinson of Orangeburg $60; the Church of the Holy Comforter $75 in one sum and various other sums from time to time.  The Rev. Mr. Baskerville, our Archdeacon, procured a donation from the Society of the Double Temple, New York of $400, and through the kindness of Bishop William N. Guerra, D.D., the Nation Wide Campaign of the Church appropriated $1,000 toward the work.  The decision was made to build in 1919 and the building was occupied in1920.  The church was officially consecrated on September 28, 1924 with Bishop William N. Guerry signing the Certificate of Consecration.

 The building is an unimposing wooden structure whose exterior belies the unique beauty of the interior, which is impressive in its simplicity.  The lovely altar in the church predates by many years the sanctuary.  The altar was a gift from St. Mark’s Episcopal Church of Charleston, built in 1866.  Throughout the church can be found individual gifts that have been given and dedicated to the memory of deceased relatives.