If you’ve ever seen paintings or drawings of downtown Charleston, you’ve likely seen the Saint Michael’s Episcopal Church. It’s beautiful white columns and gigantic steeple have seemingly caught the eye of every artist who has walked the streets there – and rightly so – it’s charm is matched by it’s history. The St. Michael’s Episcopal Church was completed in 1761 and is the oldest surviving religious structure in Charleston. The church was visited in 1791 by President George Washington, who attended a worship service there. Neat huh?
Given it’s prominence in the historic part of Charleston and it’s prevalence in Charleston art, I decided any collection of my own should include it! I’ve actually tried capturing it before on previous visits, but just never came away with anything I really liked, so this time I was determined to come away with something. The biggest challenge of the scene is that the height of the building, combined with the narrowness of the streets and tightly packed buildings, make it impossible to capture straight on. After walking around the block a bit I decided I liked this view facing down Meeting street the best, which required standing in the middle of the street to have a nice view of the church (hence the pre-dawn timing – no one else was around, save a few runners). I really like the symbolism of the street and the arrows, illustrating the many directions life can go, with the church at the intersection.
After I was happy with the picture I got of the church, Holly and I walked around the area for a while longer. Some more scenes I found are below!
More from Charleston next week!
–Dan Thompson
