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Mepkin Abbey

In 1949, a group of monks from the Abbey of Gethsemani near Bardstown, Kentucky, began monastic life at Mepkin, a famous 1700s rice plantation located along the Cooper River in South Carolina's "low country." Over the years, the community developed a style of liturgy and monastic hospitality whereby their pre-Vatican II space no longer fit the way they celebrated their faith. In 1991, the community decided to build a new church that would express their identity as a monastic community and vision for the future. The site allows guests to the church and at the same time maintain the cloistered privacy of the monks, their dormitories, cemetery, refectory, and meditation areas.