Lawrence will be guest preacher at Society Hill’s Trinity Episcopal Church

The Right Rev. Mark J. Lawrence will be the guest preacher during the annual service at Trinity Episcopal Church in Society Hill at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

Lawrence is the Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina in Charleston. He is a native of California and came to South Carolina last year from one of the larger Episcopal churches in California.

Refreshments will be available after the service of Evening Prayer.

Trinity Episcopal became an inactive church in 1930 because of declining membership. It has never had electricity.

But it features a restored tracker organ that was made by W.B.D. Simmons Co. of Boston. It was installed Oct. 18, 1873 for $1,250.

The organ is a focal point in the quaint church with huge arched windows. The rare organ has to be pumped manually.

Trinity was consecrated “A house suitable for the worship of Almighty God” on April 25, 1834, by the Right Rev. Nathaniel Bowen, bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina.

Among the founders were Judge Josiah J. Evans, a U.S. senator from South Carolina, and Enoch Hanford, a professor on the original faculty at South Carolina College (now University of South Carolina).

Trinity has been preserved through the interests of former parishioners, their survivors, the St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church (Darlington) Men’s Club and the Society of Colonial Dames.

The annual service is an historic event because it provides a religious connection with the past. Many early members were prominent citizens.

Among those resting in the church cemetery are Evans and the Rev. M.M. Wheeler, Trinity’s first rector.

The public is invited to the service.

— Staff writer Dwight Dana can be reached at (843) 317-7259. Comment on this story at http://www.scnow.com.

IF YOU’RE GOING

WHAT: Annual service

WHEN: 4:30 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Trinity Episcopal Church, Burns Street, Society Hill

COST: Free

INFO: Call (843) 393-4112

ON THE WEB: http://www.saintmatthews.us