HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
One of South Carolina's oldest Anglican congregations; the 18th-century graveyard is said to echo with laughter traced to two young women buried in their wedding dresses.
300 Broad Street, Georgetown, SC 29440
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free self-guided tours Monday–Friday, noon–3 p.m.; donations welcome
Access
Wheelchair OK
Flat brick and grass cemetery grounds; church interior accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1747 · One of the oldest continuously operating church structures in South Carolina · Colonial Anglican parish established 1721 · National Register of Historic Places (1971) · Occupied by British and Union forces in successive wars · Interior retains original colonial box pews and barrel-vaulted ceiling
The parish of Prince George Winyah was established on March 10, 1721, named for the English prince who became King George II. The cornerstone of the current brick building was laid in 1745, with the first service held on August 16, 1747—making it one of the oldest continuously operating church structures in the state. Construction used English red brick mortared with local oyster shell, and the interior retains its original wooden box pews, a plastered barrel-vaulted ceiling, and a stained-glass window salvaged from a slave chapel at the nearby Hagley Plantation.
The church has survived both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War bearing scars of each. British troops occupied and burned sections of the interior during the Revolution; Union naval forces occupied Georgetown in 1865 but left the church standing. The cemetery, enclosed by a handmade-brick wall, holds the graves of several significant early South Carolinians, among them Governor Robert F. W. Allston, Second Continental Congress delegate Paul Trapier, and General James H. Trapier. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 6, 1971.
In 2012, the congregation disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church and joined the Anglican Church in North America, though the parish name and historic building remained unchanged. The church continues to offer weekday self-guided tours and Sunday worship services.
Sources
The most persistent haunting claim at Prince George Winyah concerns two young women who spent the summer of 1885 sewing their wedding dresses together. Pauline Moses and Eliza Munnerlyn had planned to marry on the same October day—at different venues but as a shared celebration. Both contracted yellow fever that season and died within days of each other, before the wedding day arrived. They were buried wearing the dresses they had made.
The Prince George Winyah churchyard and the adjacent Beth Elohim Cemetery on Broad Street are both cited as sites of the haunting. Visitors report hearing laughter—described as light and girlish—emanating from among the headstones on summer evenings, particularly when the live oaks above the wall are in full shade. Orbs have been reported in photographs taken near the grave sections closest to Broad Street. Georgetown area ghost tour guides have included the cemetery as a regular stop for more than a decade.
Notable Entities
Explore the grounds of one of South Carolina's oldest Anglican parishes, including box pews dating to the colonial era, the handmade-brick cemetery wall, and graves of Revolutionary War figures and South Carolina governors.
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Aerial survey · USDA NAIPGeorgetown, SC
Beth Elohim Cemetery on Broad Street is the second-oldest Jewish burial ground in South Carolina, containing graves of prominent Georgetown citizens including three of the town's six Jewish mayors.
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