Still Standing: Old Sheldon Church

In this installment of “History Off the Beaten Path,” we visit the ruins of the Old Sheldon Church—worth a side trip.
Still Standing: Old Sheldon Church
Sheldon Church is one of the oldest churches in the American South. It was destroyed twice, and never rebuilt. Cvandyke/Shutterstock
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The first time I chanced upon the ruins of Sheldon Church, I was mystified. Four brick columns stood in front of a massive brick structure with looming arched openings. The building resides among elderly oaks dripping with Spanish moss.  To add to the ethereal nature of the place, 200-plus-year-old gravestones protrude from the unmanicured grounds around the abandoned church.

Gravestones abandoned to time pop up around the old Sheldon Church. (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Thepres6&action=edit&redlink=1">John E. Adams</a>/<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>)<span style="font-size: 16px;"> </span>
Gravestones abandoned to time pop up around the old Sheldon Church. (John E. Adams/CC BY-SA 4.0) 
Deena Bouknight
Deena Bouknight
Author
A 30-plus-year writer-journalist, Deena C. Bouknight works from her Western North Carolina mountain cottage and has contributed articles on food culture, travel, people, and more to local, regional, national, and international publications. She has written three novels, including the only historical fiction about the East Coast’s worst earthquake. Her website is DeenaBouknightWriting.com