Climbing 'Jacob's Ladder'

Restoration effort in works at old Hebron Presbyterian Church

JOHNS ISLAND--Kiawah Island played an important role in the original construction of the old Hebron Presbyterian Church here more than 130 years ago: That's where a ship wrecked with a cargo full of timbers. Johns Island's newly freed slaves, intent on establishing their own churches to assert their independence, retrieved the wood and carried it more than a mile to near where Betsy Kerrison Parkway meets Bohicket and River roads today.  They constructed a simple but handsome building whose interior was broken up only by a small narthex and balconies along three of its four walls. The building has served as a spiritual center of the island's black community for about a century, until the church moved to a more modern building.  It remains the island's greatest black landmark.  In 1980, Franciscan nuns helped convert the historic church into a senior citizens center, but then Hurricane Hugo struck in 1989, damaging its foundation and giving it a slight lean.  Today, Kiawah and Seabrook islands are playing an important role in saving the building.  Residents of those islands have volunteered to help members of the Hebron-St. Francis Senior Citizens Center raise the significant sums needed for its restoration.  "We drive through Johns Island every day, and we want to contribute," says Pat Wert, wife of Kiawah Island Mayor Bill Wert. "One of the attractions of this project is it's a way for people on Kiawah and Seabrook to get involved in the local community." Fund-raising events have netted about $40,000, enough to buy a new metal roof. Work was set to begin installing it, but the contractor felt the century-old building was so shaky that he didn't want his crews on top of it.  That's when the committee called in structural engineer Russell Rosen.  With Rosen's findings in hand, work is ready to begin again, this time on the structure itself and then on the roof, says architect Christopher Rose, whose office is helping with the job. Still, little of the church's existing wood needs to be replaced, only reinforced, Rose says. Workers will add new supports in the corners and in the attic.  "Pretty much all the new lumber will be hidden," Rose says. The building renovation, inside and out, is expected to cost $250,000, and organizers hope to raise twice that amount to construct a separate support building on the back of the property. That new building will be the project's final phase and will include a kitchen, space to give medical exams and restrooms.  The hope is that people seeing the work under way will open their wallets to help. Stephen Koenig Construction and Thompson Construction are doing the work. The church has brought together very different groups of islanders, such as artist Mary Whyte and Alfreda LaBoard. When they first met, LaBoard was in the kitchen at the old Hebron Presbyterian Church, baking cornbread.  She prepared her guest a plate of food, and after glancing casually at Whyte's thin frame, LaBoard doled out a second, even larger helping.  That began a friendship that would grow over the years to include dozens of portraits by Whyte of LaBoard and other native Johns Islanders -- a story captured in Whyte's recent book that she wrote and illustrated, "Alfreda's World." Whyte and LaBoard met again recently to celebrate the start of the work on the church.  LaBoard and others sang "Jacob's Ladder," because LaBoard feels it's a suitable metaphor for the restoration. "This is a very tall ladder, but with God's help and with others' help, we're going to make it up to the top of it," she says.  "We're looking forward to the day it's completed, and we can come back home, spread all our quilts on the table and just leave it and enjoy each other like we always do."

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