Dorchester, South Carolina

Situated on the Ashley River about 18 miles (29 km) from Charleston, it was founded in February 1696 by followers of Reverend Joseph Lord from Dorchester, Massachusetts.

[citation needed] In 1675, a wealthy Englishman named John Smith arrived in South Carolina with his wife Mary.

Settler William Pratt wrote in this diary that the group were fewer than nine when they arrived in the Province of South Carolina.

The storm's wind blew southward, however, and it actually propelled the ship so quickly that it arrived in Charles Town after only six days on December 20, when the journey should have taken two weeks.

The new settlers first built crude wooden lean-tos to live in, and set to work on the more important task – building a church.

On November 1 of that year, after the town had been established, the church at Dorchester, Massachusetts approved the emigration of dozens more to the new village.

Reverend Lord returned to the Massachusetts colony in 1720, and the town in Dorchester, South Carolina, gradually declined.

The ruins of the Old White Meeting House and its cemetery are owned and maintained by its successor congregation, Summerville Presbyterian Church.