An act of South Carolina Assembly established the Parish of St. Helena on June 17, 1712, just two years after the founding of Beaufort.

St. Helena's Church experienced only minor damage during the Revolutionary War but suffered neglect following disestablishment until the 1820s.

William J. Grayson, a newspaper editor and future member of Congress who was converted during the revival, described the scene thus: The congregations increased daily; the whole community, laying aside their avocations, gave themselves up to the religious services.

The interval between the public services was spent in prayer in private houses, in conference with the ministers, and in religious conversation.

A holy atmosphere pervaded the town, and affected the entire population to a degree unparalleled, save in the revival described by President Edwards, at Northampton, in 1735.

Once, at the close of an evening service, when the congregation seemed to drink in the preached gospel, the minister invited those who desired the prayers of their brethren to kneel around the chancel.

the church, when, simultaneously, every pew door appeared to fly open; and not the chancel only, but the aisles also, were thronged with a kneeling multitude, in solemn silence, "waiting for the moving of the waters."

As the whole population felt the divine impulse, some, doubtless, did not obey; but the great majority became consistent and useful Christians, filling many stations of honour and influence in the church and in the world.

[4] St. Helena's doubled in attendance and outgrew its building;[4] Walker presided over a major expansion in 1842 that saw the addition of galleries in the church.

[6] St. Helena's Church is considered emblematic of colonial Georgian architecture, with its west facade representing the Federal style in particular.

[7] The historic church sits in St. Helena's Old Church Yard, which was also dedicated in 1724. Notable interments in the cemetery include early Beaufort colonist John "Tuscarora Jack" Barnwell, his grandson and South Carolina militia general John Barnwell, and Confederate Army generals Richard H. Anderson and Stephen Elliott Jr.[8] St. Helena's currently holds weekly services in the historic sanctuary, in the parish hall, on Fripp Island and at Habersham, a planned community west of Beaufort.