st. helena's island

st. helena's island, southeast of beaufort, is the site of penn school and of this excellent ruin----during the colonial period, several parish churches established "chapels of ease" at outlying locations so that planters and their families could attend services without a long boat and wagon ride to town---this was a chapel of ease established by st. helena's church in beaufort---a tabby structure built around 1740 to serve several of the sea island plantations in that area----it became an independent episcopal church after the revolution but was destroyed by a wild fire in the 1880s---there is a grave yard around the ruins, but all of the graves had been vandalized, including a magnificent egyptian-revival mausoleum built in 1852 for edgar fripp---it was described in 1876 as "a fine affair, and it did not have to wait very long for its occupants, edgar and wife. the yankees broke it open during the war, hoping for treasure. it is now somewhat out of order"----