Nestled atop a hill near Table Rock is a large soapstone boulder that offers a direct view of the surrounding peaks. Beside it sits Soapstone Baptist Church, a sanctuary for many in the small Blue Ridge community of Liberia in Pickens County.
Soapstone is the oldest African American church in the Upstate, its original structure built in 1864 by 600 freed slaves who initially held services on the soapstone boulder before deciding to construct a church to continue the legacy.
After enduring Ku Klux Klan attacks during the Jim Crow era and a global pandemic, the 162-year-old church still stands as a symbol of the community’s perseverance…