Bull Swamp Baptist Church: In the Beginning


For Indepth History, Follow the link here

https://bullswampbaptist.com/church-history/

Bull Swamp Baptist Church is one of the oldest churches in Orangeburg County and has a rich history in the community. The original members were slaves, and worship services took place in a clearing in the swamp known as a Bush or Brush Arbor. A group known as the Singing Arbor was organized in 1831. Sister Carrie Dantzler, Brother Dave Smith, Brother Dave Dantzler and others were among the early members.  The first brush arbor was simply that: brush and tree limbs formed an arbor with additional brush filling in the sides to create a rough shelter with a small opening. Inside the Arbor, buckets and logs were used for seating. This picture is of a more sophisticated arbor used on church grounds in later years.

In the early 1840s, the “congregation” was officially called the Bull Swamp Baptist Church

According to the information found in the deed book number 14, page 145, the trustees of a Colored Baptist Church purchased one acre of land situated in the Orangeburg District on the southwest side of little Bull Swamp for the expressed purpose to build a church for the Baptist denomination of the colored population. The deed was formally executed and witnessed on the third day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand eight-hundred, sixty-seven (1867) in the ninety-first year of the Independence of the United States of America. A house on the property was to be used to have the children taught in the System of Education.

An in-depth history can be found in “Church History.”                 

       Online Giving: Tithes, Offerings, Donations

The Old School House with new roof.