Target Methodist Church
(Front)
This church, founded about 1800, is one of the oldest Methodist congregations in this part of the state. It takes its name from Target Branch, a nearby tributary of Four Holes Swamp. The name “Target” is thought to be a corruption of the “tar gates” along the edges of the swamp, where tar, turpentine, and timber were harvested. It held its first services in a brush
arbor, with a sycamore stump for a pulpit.
(Reverse text)
Target Methodist Church was one of several area congregations long served by circuit riders, on the Cypress Circuit 1810-1855, then on the Providence Circuit 1855-1916. Its first permanent church, a log building, was rebuilt as a frame sanctuary in 1830. A second frame church built in 1873 was replaced by the present sanctuary in 1920.
The cemetery here includes graves dating as early as 1820.
Marker is on Branch Ford Road (South Carolina Route 314) near Target Road (South Carolina Road 38-68), on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
