St. Peter's Episcopal Church

The history of St. Peter's Church actually started 155 years before our church was built at the comer of Hudson and Devenger. Between April and June of 1820, the Reverend Rodolphus Dickinson (or Dickerson) established three missions in the Piedmont of South Carolina. A native of Massachusetts, the Reverend Mr. Dickinson had been educated at Yale. and had at first gone into the businesses of publishing and law. At 34 he entered the Episcopal ministry and chose" ... to explore the inland hills and mountains, where life was a test of man's industry and ingenuity ... (and where the Episcopal Church) was emphatically not, as in the coastal areas, "the Church." 

The three missions that Dickinson established in upstate South Carolina were St. Paul's (Pendleton). St. James, Greenville (which was later renamed Christ Church), and St. Peter's at the South Carolina Armory, six miles south of Greenville on the Reedy River. St. Peters was represented at the Diocesan Convention of 1821. but afterwards seems to have failed. The name does not reappear in Greenville County's Episcopal church history until 1970.

With the recommendation of a new mission in the area, the Rt. Rev, John A. Pinckney and several clergymen met with approximately 30 interested people at St. Francis Church in October, 1968.  By December of that year, the group was meeting for services in private homes, eventually moving to an  elementary school in the area.  The Reverend Rogers Harris became the priest-in-charge on January 1, 1969.

St. Peter's Church, Episcopal. was officially organized on October 24, 1969. with Bishop Pinckney present. There was a membership of about 35 and an elected vestry of nine.  On August 3, 1969, the Reverend Henry L. Heath, Jr., from Alabama, became the next priest-in-charge. The mission took on new growth and was organized as St. Peter's Episcopal Church on October 24, 1969, with then Bishop John A. Pinckney present.  In February 1970, it was officially recognized by the Diocesan Convention.  By June 1973, a move was made to Brushy Creek Elementary School for more space for Sunday School classes. 

Fairly early in St. Peter's history, 6.5 acres of land were purchased with the aid and cooperation of the diocese and Christ Church in particular. Ground was broken on February 10, 1975 for the permanent location of St. Peter's at the comer of Devenger and Hudson Roads.  The Rt. Rev. George Alexander, Bishop, and The Venn. William A. Beckham, Archdeacon, dedicated the church building in a service of Thanksgiving on September 7 of that year.  What is now Stockstill Hall was the original worship space.  A faded green trailer served as the first nursery.  In 1976, the Women of St: Peter's was formally organized. Meta Armstrong became its first president.