Jerusalem Baptist Church
This church, organized soon after the Civil War, is one of the oldest African-American churches in Darlington County. It held its first services a few miles E under a brush arbor on Snake Branch, a creek near E. Carolina Ave. The first permanent church, a log building, was built there. Trustees acquired this site in 1898, built the present church in 1907, and chartered the congregation in 1908.
This church, built in 1907 as a frame building, was described as “a splendid achievement” when it was covered in brick veneer and rededicated in 1939. It had a congregation of more than 350 during the Depression. Rev. Henry H. Butler (1887-1948), pastor from 1932 until his death, was also for many years the principal of the Darlington Co. Training School/Butler School and later president of Morris College.
Where it stands. 6th St. & Laurens Ave., Hartsville, Hartsville