St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church, dedicated in 1876, is one of Georgia’s rare Episcopal congregations founded specifically for African Americans—and one of the most beautiful. Its story is deeply entwined with the fascinating history of Darien itself, a town whose origins stretch back to 1736 when Scottish Highlanders arrived on the Altamaha River to defend the southern frontier of the Georgia colony. These “warrior farmers,” brought by Oglethorpe, named their new settlement for the ill-fated Scottish colony of Darien in Panama. Today, though its population is fewer than 2,000, Darien remains the second-oldest town in Georgia outside of Savannah, and it is home to five remarkably historic churches.

The Episcopal presence in Darien began in the 1840s with St. Andrews, which ministered to both whites and enslaved people. By the eve of the Civil War, records show 37 white and 54 Black communicants. That promising growth was destroyed in 1863 when Union troops looted and burned Darien to the ground. The attack—led by Col. James Montgomery and the young Col. Robert Gould Shaw, later memorialized in the film Glory—erased much of the town’s antebellum history.

In the aftermath of war, a new beginning came from the Butler Plantation across the river. In 1873, the Rev. Dr. Leigh, who had married into the Butler family, secured plans for a church that would serve Darien’s African American community. Built by freedmen from Butler Island and Darien, the sanctuary was completed in 1876 and named St. Cyprian’s, honoring the martyred African bishop.

One of its most remarkable features is its construction of tabby concrete, a material made from lime, water, and oyster shells that was widely used in the 18th and early 19th centuries. St. Cyprian’s is believed to be one of the largest surviving tabby structures in Georgia still in use today.

Both a cultural treasure and a sacred place of worship, St. Cyprian’s stands as a rare testament to resilience and faith in the African American Episcopal tradition. To step inside is to touch a piece of Georgia’s coastal history—one worth honoring and preserving for generations to come.