Mizpah Methodist Church

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

From the record

“Mizpah Methodist Church is a historic Methodist church located near Olar, Bamberg County, South Carolina. It was built in 1856, and is a frame church sheathed in weatherboard and includes Greek Revival and Gothic Revival architectural elements.”
Wikipedia article Mizpah Methodist Church, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 13 National Register listings published here for Bamberg County · listed in 2000 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. Jct. of US 301 and S-5-31, Olar, 29843
When was it listed? December 2000
Category. building
Census division. Olar
National Register reference number. 00001531 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

90 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 90 fires within 5 miles of Mizpah Methodist Church between 1992 and 2020, burning about 455 acres in total. 8 started naturally. 14 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	36
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	21
Arson/incendiarism	14
Natural	8
Equipment and vehicle use	8
Smoking	2
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
7 September 2019	Debris and open burning	under an acre	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
3 September 2004	Natural	under an acre	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
26 September 2000	Arson/incendiarism	5.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
25 September 2007	Debris and open burning	2.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
24 September 2010	Arson/incendiarism	5.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
28 August 1997	Natural	3.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
13 August 2002	Debris and open burning	2.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
6 July 2011	Natural	7.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named

Every fire recorded in Bamberg County

Mines and quarries near this property

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Mizpah Methodist Church: 1 unknown, 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Cleckley Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown	Sedimentary
Ila Smith	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	1981
Pit No. 2	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Bamberg County

Storms near this property

27 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Olar, the town this property stands in, in 27 storm reports between 1997 and 2022: 16 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 2 tornado, 1 lightning. The reports record 31 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2012	Hail	Olar	30 hurt, $20,000	Public reported golfball size hail in the Olar area.
May 2008	Hail	Olar	1 hurt	Law enforcement tennis ball size hail. Storm survey found many homes had damage to siding, windows, and roofs. Auto and home windows were broken. One woman was injured by flying glass in her auto. Holes were in siding. Vehicles were badly dented. Crops were flattened and there was a blanket of leaves and pine needles that covered the ground and roadways.
August 1997	Lightning	Olar	$15,000	Garage was hit and destroyed by lightning. Contents included an automoblie, tractors, mowers, etc.
November 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	$12,000	Sheriff and NWS Storm Survey found trees down from Olar to Hwy 301 on Hwy 64.
June 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	$6,000	DOT reported trees down on hwys 321 and 64 in Govan and Olar.
June 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	$3,000	Highway Patrol reported trees down on Low Country road.
August 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	$3,000	Sheriff reported trees down at the intersection of US 321 and Hwy 64.
July 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	$2,000	Dispatch reported a couple of trees down in the Olar area including Hwy 64.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	-	SC Highway Patrol reported a tree in the roadway. Time estimated by radar.
May 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	-	SCDOT reported a tree that had fallen, partially blocking SC 64 near the town of Olar. Time estimated.
September 2017	Tornado (EF0)	Olar	-	NWS storm survey team confirmed an EF-0 tornado touched down just NE of Olar, SC, moved to the NNW and dissipated approximately 4 minutes later near Govan, SC. The tornado was associated with the circulation of tropical cyclone Irma. \|\|The tornado touched down just northwest of the town of Olar along Thunder Road. The tornado continued north-northwest for approximately 2 miles. The tornado crossed Thunder Road, Red Fox Road, Memorial Church Road and dissipated before reaching Ehrhardt Road. The tornado downed a few trees and several large limbs along it's path. The tornado was brief, only staying on the ground for approximately \|4 minutes.
April 2009	Hail	Olar	-	SKYWARN spotter reported 3/4 inch hail on Spider road.
July 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	-	DOT reported a couple of trees down on hwy 64 and sc23.
July 2008	Hail	Olar	-	Public reported nickel size hail in Olar.
February 2007	Tornado (EF0)	Olar	-	An EF1 touched down SE of Olar near hwy 64 and continued NE taking down trees along its path.
June 2007	Hail	Olar	-	Public reported quarter size hail at Tiger Mart.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	-	Public reported several trees down in the Olar area.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	-	Emergency Manager reported large limbs down in Olar.
May 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	-	Electric coop reported large limbs down on powerlines with power outages.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	-	Sheriff reported trees down in Olar.
May 2005	Hail	Olar	-	Sheriff reported 3/4 inch hail in Olar and the surrounding area.
September 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	-	Highway department reported scattered trees down in the Olar area.
April 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	-	Highway Patrol reported trees down along highway 321.
April 1999	Hail	Olar	-	Police reported golf ball size hail covering ground.
August 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	-	A severe thunderstorm took down trees along SC Highway 64 and other adjacent county roads.
August 1997	Hail	Olar	-	Post Office reports 1 inch hail.
August 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Olar	-	Post Office reports trees down on SC Highway 64. Tops were broken off and blown into an animal shelter.

Every storm recorded in Bamberg County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

2 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph	Property	Distance	Listed
	Rivers Bridge State Park	6.5 miles	1972
	Copeland House	7.9 miles	1991

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 00001531 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Bamberg County	All 13 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.