South Carolina's 86 Churches on the National Register of Historic Places

86 South Carolina churches in the Churches List directory stand on the National Register of Historic Places, and the state's first listing belongs to the register's 1966 founding class: Saint Michael's Episcopal Church in Charleston, the 1761 colonial landmark whose steeple has anchored the city's skyline through war, earthquake, and hurricane.

Charleston County leads with 14 register-listed churches, followed by Richland (Columbia) with 10 and Greenville with 8. South Carolina's list is the South's deepest per capita for colonial and antebellum buildings: the directory's matches include 18th-century parish churches of the established Anglican lowcountry alongside upcountry meeting houses.

The complete list of South Carolina churches on the National Register

The table lists all 86 South Carolina congregations in this directory whose buildings hold National Register of Historic Places listings as of June 11, 2026. Click a column to sort; the county menu filters the list.

When did South Carolina churches enter the National Register?

South Carolina listed 34 churches in the 1970s, the strongest first-decade showing among the states in this series relative to list size. The early energy came from Charleston's preservation establishment, the oldest in the country, which had eligible buildings documented before the register existed. Listings have continued in every decade since: 14 in the 1980s, 14 in the 1990s, 11 in the 2000s, and 12 more since 2010.

Which South Carolina counties hold the most register-listed churches?

Where the register-listed churches stand: the map

How this list was assembled

The list joins the Churches List directory (8,431 South Carolina congregations as of June 11, 2026) against the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places database by building location and name. 86 matches hold as of the snapshot date; the earliest South Carolina church listing dates to 1966. A register listing covers the building, not the congregation, and some listed buildings house congregations younger than the walls. Corrections are applied through the corrections page.

Related reading in The Letter: Georgia's 77 register-listed churches continues the coastal-South register story, and the Episcopal Atlantic corridor maps the tradition behind the lowcountry's oldest buildings. The South Carolina state page lists all 8,431 South Carolina churches.