[3] The legislature gave the cemetery and other lands to be shared between the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians.

A local legend says that First Presbyterian and the now-nearby Trinity Episcopal Cathedral drew lots to determine which congregation would get what lot, with First Presbyterian receiving the cemetery, located at the corner of Lady and Marion Streets.

Though spared the torch during Sherman's march to the sea, the building's original 180-foot spire was destroyed in an 1875 hurricane, and rebuilt in 1888.

[6] Former pastors include James Henley Thornwell, Benjamin Morgan Palmer, John Giradeau, Sinclair Ferguson, and Derek Thomas.

Among the notable people buried in the church's cemetery are the parents of Woodrow Wilson; Henry William de Saussure, second director of the United States Mint;[2] Jonathan Maxcy, the first president of South Carolina College; and Martha Thomas Fitzgerald, first woman elected in a general election to the South Carolina House of Representatives.