Church History

Duncan Memorial United Methodist Church was established in 1785, one year after the Methodist Episcopal Church in America was founded in Baltimore, Maryland. This church is the oldest Methodist congregation in the state of South Carolina, as well one of the oldest in the nation. Duncan Memorial United Methodist church was organized by Bishop Francis Asbury, one of the first two bishops in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The first pastor of Duncan Memorial United Methodist Church was the Reverend Woolman Hickson. In 1903, the present church building replaced earlier church structures.