Ceremony and organ recital honored the history of the African-American burial ground.
IRMO – Saint Michael Lutheran Church hosted a rededication ceremony and organ recital on Nov. 1 to honor its historic African-American Cemetery and the people buried there.
Pastor Frank W. Anderson spearheaded efforts to restore the historic cemetery beginning in 2017. Archaeologists conducted a site analysis and identified the locations of 160 probable burials.
Descendants of more than 20 people known to be buried at the site have participated in the reclamation project, along with Pleasant Spring AME Church, which also has members interred in the cemetery.
Following the 2 p.m. cemetery rededication at Windward Point Road and Arwen Lane, the celebration continued with an organ recital in the church sanctuary at 400 River Road.
Chuck Wilson, a member of the American Guild of Organists, performed spirituals and hymns on the church’s historic E. & G.G. Hook Pipe Organ, Opus 359, built in 1865. A cellist accompanied Wilson on several selections. A reception followed the recital in the church fellowship hall.
Saint Michael Lutheran Church, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, celebrated its bicentennial in 2014. The congregation traces its history to April 30, 1816, when the first Lutheran ecclesiastical meeting in South Carolina was held at the church. The South Carolina Synod was founded there on Jan. 14, 1824.
For more information about the church, call 803-781-0229, email [email protected] or visit www.stmichael1814.com. Sunday worship is held at 10:30 a.m., and community Bible study takes place Wednesdays at 10 a.m.
