Countless items of curious interest hang about the church and parish.  Michaux, the French botanist who came to this country in 1786, lived for a time at Goose Creek.  He brought with him the first four camellias seen in the United States, planting them at Middleton Place above Drayton Hall, where, I believe, they still stand, having reached a great height.  A British officer known as Mad Archy Campbell was married at Goose Creek Church during the Revolution, under romantic circumstances.  Miss Paulina Phelps, a young lady of the parish, was a great beauty and a great coquette, who amused herself alike with American and British officers.  Campbell met and fell desperately in love with her, and it is said that she encouraged him, though without serious intent.  One day he induced her to go horseback-riding with him and on the ride made love to her so vehemently that she was “intimidated into accepting him.”  They rode to the rectory, and Campbell, meeting the rector, demanded that he should marry them at once.  The dominie replied that he would do so “with the consent of the young lady and her mother,” but Campbell proposed to await no such formalities.  Drawing his pistol he gave the minister the choice of performing the ceremony then and there, or perishing.  This argument proved conclusive and the two were promptly wed.

When Goose Creek was within the British lines it is said that the minister proceeded, upon one occasion, to utter the prayer for the King of England, in the Litany.  At the end of the prayer there were no “Amens,” the congregation having been composed almost entirely, as the story goes, of believers in American independence.  Into the awkward pause after the prayer one voice from the congregation was at last injected.  It was the voice of old Ralph Izard, saying heartily, not “Amen,” but “Good Lord, deliver us!” There is a tablet in the church to the memory of this worthy.

The story is told, also, of an old gentleman, a member of the congregation in Revolutionary times, who informed the minister that if he again read the prayer for the King he would throw his prayer-book at his head.  The minister took this for a jest, but when he began to read the prayer on the following Sunday, he found that it was not, for sure enough the prayer-book came hurtling through the air.  Prayer-books were heavier then than they are now, and it is said that as a result of this episode, the minister refused to hold service thereafter.

The church is not now used regularly, an occasional memorial service only being held there.

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