Willington
Presbyterian
Church
What to expect:
You can expect a warm welcome and a small congregation committed to each other and our community.
Welcome and we are so glad you found us. We are located on the Nature Route of the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor.
The corridor stretches across 17 counties from the Appalachian Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean and encompasses everything from the Cherokee Foothills, to the Savannah and Ashley Rivers, to plantation houses, to Edisto Island.
Willington Presbyterian Church History:
Our church is steeped in history and survived the Civil War (1861-1865) and 2 fires. It was organized in 1809.
The Willington Presbyterian Church was founded by Dr. Moses Waddel in 1813. Dr. Waddel is known for his role as educator and founder of the Willington Academy in 1804, which became one of the leading educational centers of the nation. Dr. Waddel’s Academy, known as the “Eton in the Woods”, trained the future elite of Georgia and South Carolina with a strict classical education in a minimalistic environment to foster self-reliance and self-motivation. Preaching services began with the opening of the Academy in Willington, a seat Dr. Waddel established and named.
Dr. Waddel was the pastor of both the Liberty Church (a Huguenot congregation) and the Hopewell Presbyterian Church (a Scots Irish congregation). The local tradition is that Dr. Waddel named the community and his academy “Willington” because these two groups were “willing” to unite for Christian worship and to support the education of young men.
In 1828, Willington had 101 members and in 1829, the number had grown to 115. In 1913, South Carolina Presbytery met at the site of the Willington Academy in the church building constructed in 1854 to help celebrate the centennial of the founding of the church. The church building became unusable and another frame building was built closer to the Willington Depot. This building burned down in March 1920 and the church records were lost. The present brick building was completed on a new lot in 1924;
however, the dedication was not held until June 10, 1929 when the church was free of debt. The event was reported in the Abbeville Press & Banner. Dr. E. F. Gettys preached the dedication service, assisted by Rev. J. B. Branch. The Rev. G. M. Telford preached in the afternoon. The memorial tablet to Dr. Waddel, removed from the old church to the present one, was given by Mrs. Armistead Burt, a daughter of William Calhoun.
In 1953, two small Sunday School rooms were added and then remodeled in 1994 with a Fellowship Hall/Sunday School room built. In 2009, the fellowship hall was expanded and named Kennerly Hall in honor of the Rev. Lee P. Kennerly, who served the church as a Supply Pastor for 42 years.