Historic Hilton Head church has to move out of airport runway zone. Where will it go?
When Blewett Wright traveled to California for the holidays this year, the retiree and Texas native flew out of the Hilton Head Island Airport.
He was reluctant to do so, because he didn’t want to support the institution that was driving his church off its land.
An eight-year member of St. James Church on Hilton Head Island, Wright is the appointed leader of the church’s negotiating committee — which has been in talks with the Town of Hilton Head Island, Beaufort County and the airport to find a new home for the 134-year-old church. St. James is having to leave its original property because it’s at the northern end of the airport’s newly expanded runway.
In 2018 the airport finished a 700-foot runway addition. Making the runway longer allowed larger planes to land there — but also extended the federally mandated “runway protection zone” over both St. James and the Old Cherry Hill School across the street.
The Federal Aviation Administration recommends that the airport own all buildings in the protection zone and advises that they should be empty.
But cultural institutions that predate the ability even to fly planes have stood there as gathering points for over a century.
St. James Church is the oldest continuously operating cultural institution remaining in Mitchelville, the north-end village established for freed slaves in 1886. Cherry Hill School was built in 1937 and is the last remaining schoolhouse built solely for African American children on the island.
When Wright flew out of the airport, he passed directly over his congregation’s sanctuary on Beach City Road.
He was seated in the aisle and didn’t get a glimpse.
Where will the church go?
After a year of negotiations, the century-old church has set its sights on town-owned land in the area around Union Cemetery on Union Cemetery Road.
St. James owns the cemetery, and it is surrounded by the now-vacant Planter’s Row golf course — a wide swath of undeveloped land that town leaders have considered developing into a large park.
“I think we will be much safer at that location,” Wright said.
Although the relocation spot isn’t set in stone yet, the congregation has big expectations for its new building.
Wright said the town will build a sanctuary on the new location, and some hope for an adjacent fellowship hall with a kitchen for the congregation to serve the hungry.
While the congregation will move into a new building, the Old Cherry Hill School building will actually be moved because it holds a spot on the National Register of Historic Places, which is “the official list of the nation’s historic places worthy of preservation,” according to the National Park Service website.
The designation does not provide protection from demolition or relocation.
“The nation’s list is of places worthy of preservation. It doesn’t say ‘this is a list of properties that must be preserved.’ It’s just not set up to mandate or require preservation,” Brad Sauls, the supervisor of registration and local government programs for the South Carolina department of archives and history, told The Island Packet in 2019.
When historic buildings are moved, they typically lose their designation on the list, but Sauls said the town and representatives from the church have been in talks with the registry to relocate it true to form and keep the designation.
“It’s going a relatively short distance, and being put on a comparable site,” Sauls said. “You have a much better chance of maintaining registry listing if you can maintain the historical setting, character and fabric” of the property.
Originally, the congregation favored relocating to the Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park directly up Beach City Road.
“Beach City was the preference because it was in Mitchelville, and a lot of members can tie their roots directly to Mitchelville,” Wright said.
But the discovery of even more archaeological artifacts on the town-owned property prevented relocation there, according to St. James member Herbert Ford.
Who will pay for the new church?
As part of the relocation agreement, the town will pay to relocate Old Cherry Hill School and build a new church for the St. James congregation.
But the town will likely be reimbursed by the FAA for the relocation, according to Glenn Stanford, the Hilton Head Town Council member who represents the area.
“The town and the county are responsible for building the new church facilities. ... Then, after two to three years, the FAA will issue a 90% reimbursement,” he said.
For the FAA to reimburse the town, a comprehensive estimate for demolition of the existing church and construction of the new one must be submitted and approved by the federal agency.
These trade-offs are worth it to Wright and other members of the congregation.
“A lot of the members of St. James were pretty stern that they didn’t want to move,” he said. “But we were going to end up with the church being condemned and nothing out of it.”
The Rev. Dr. Charles Hamilton — who was the pastor at St. James for 19 years before his death in May 2019 — was one of those stern members before he led the church into negotiations with the town in early 2019.
“There should be enough room on this island for all of us,” Hamilton told The Island Packet in March 2019. “And there should be enough respect from a moral and ethical standpoint to respect each other’s space.”
An accident waiting to happen?
One of the biggest worries about staying at the historic church’s location is its safety, Wright said.
While the church’s building has burned down twice and been rebuilt, the congregation has been quietly worrying about a different kind of tragedy.
“At one time it was a push in both directions from the church and the government side of it, but at this point there’s a full realization that a tragedy could happen,” Wright said, “and it’s in everyone’s best interest to move.”
Asked about the church’s safety in 2019, Beaufort County airports director Jon Rembold said “statistically, most aircraft incidents happen after takeoff. (The church is) in that zone.”
Analysis of airplane accidents between 1959 and 2017 by Boeing showed that 46% of fatal crashes happen during final descent and landing, while 13% of crashes happened during takeoff and initial ascent.
The proposed home for the church is still in earshot of commercial jets, but it is not in the direct flight path.
As Wright continues to lead negotiations for the church, the relative newcomer to the congregation said safety has to be in the forefront of his mind.
“If you were to observe, you can actually see how close (the planes) come to clipping trees and how close they come over the church property,” he said. “I think everyone realizes that if we don’t get out of there, we’re an accident waiting to happen.”
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article misidentified Herbert Ford’s role with St. James Church. He is a member. Yvonne Singleton is the interim pastor.
This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
