NPS Photo October 12, 1780 Brittain Church sits along the route the Patriots took south as they closed in on Gilbert Town and, they hoped, British Major Patrick Ferguson. After their victory at Kings Mountain, the men traveled to the church with wounded companions and several hundred Tory prisoners in tow. They stopped to rest and tend their wounded, and on October 12, 1780 Lt. Thomas McCullough, a Patriot from Virginia, succumbed to his injuries. The Patriots buried him in the church cemetery, making him one of at least 15 Revolutionary War veterans to be buried there, and one of the oldest marked graves.
The congregation was first organized in 1768. The building that stands today is the third to occupy the site and house the congregation. It was built in 1852 and was bricked over in the 1900s. Originally the church was organized as “Little Britain Presbyterian Church” but changed the name to Brittain after the war to no longer be associated with the old country. The cemetery is open to visitors every day, sunrise to sunset. |
Last updated: August 3, 2019