Mepkin Abbey
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Mepkin Abbey is a
Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( la, Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a ...
monastery in
Berkeley County, South Carolina Berkeley County is a county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 229,861. Its county seat is Moncks Corner. After two previous incarnations of Berkeley County, the current county was created in 1882. B ...
. The abbey is located near
Moncks Corner Moncks Corner is a town in and the county seat of Berkeley County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 7,885 at the 2010 census. As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, Moncks Corner is included within the Charleston-North Charleston-S ...
, at the junction of the two forks of the Cooper River northwest of Charleston, and is located in the
Diocese of Charleston The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston is an ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Roman Catholic Church in the Southern United States that comprises the entire state of South Carolina. Currently, the diocese consists of 96 parishes an ...
.


History

The area has been known as Mepkin for centuries, and was originally the estate of several historic families. The first record of the name was a 1681 grant to the sons of Sir John Coleton, one of the Lords Proprietary of
South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...
. In 1762 one of his descendants sold the land to
Henry Laurens Henry Laurens (December 8, 1792) was an American Founding Father, merchant, slave trader, and rice planter from South Carolina who became a political leader during the Revolutionary War. A delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Laure ...
of Charleston. Laurens built his home there, and it was known as the Mepkin Plantation. After a few generations, the Laurens family sold the property, and it passed through several hands. In 1936 the well-known publisher Henry R. Luce bought the property. The plantation, which was created from several smaller plantations, contained over 7200 acres when Luce bought the property for a reported $150,000. When the Luces bought the plantation, Laurnes' house was already gone; the then-current house had been built in 1906. New York architect
Edward Durell Stone Edward Durell Stone (March 9, 1902 – August 6, 1978) was an American architect known for the formal, highly decorative buildings he designed in the 1950s and 1960s. His works include the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City, the Museo de A ...
travelled to Mepkin in 1936 to design a new house for the Luces. His wife,
Clare Boothe Luce Clare Boothe Luce ( Ann Clare Boothe; March 10, 1903 – October 9, 1987) was an American writer, politician, U.S. ambassador, and public conservative figure. A versatile author, she is best known for her 1936 hit play '' The Women'', which ha ...
, commissioned and built an extensive landscape garden there known as the Mepkin Garden. In 1949 the Luces donated a large part of the property, including the garden, to the Trappist Order's
Gethsemani Abbey The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani is a Catholic monastery in the United States near Bardstown, Kentucky, in Nelson County. The abbey is part of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (''Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae''), ...
. Twenty-nine monks of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists) came from Gethsemani, Kentucky, to found the new Mepkin Abbey. With a few limitations, the Abbey and the Mepkin Gardens are open to the public on a daily basis. The monastery grounds include a graveyard containing the ashes of Henry Laurens, as well as the graves of
John Laurens John Laurens (October 28, 1754 – August 27, 1782) was an American soldier and statesman from South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War, best known for his criticism of slavery and his efforts to help recruit slaves to fight for thei ...
,
Clare Boothe Luce Clare Boothe Luce ( Ann Clare Boothe; March 10, 1903 – October 9, 1987) was an American writer, politician, U.S. ambassador, and public conservative figure. A versatile author, she is best known for her 1936 hit play '' The Women'', which ha ...
, and Henry Luce. Its gardens are now known as the
Mepkin Abbey Botanical Garden The Mepkin Abbey Botanical Garden (3,200 acres) is a natural area and botanical garden located on the grounds of Mepkin Abbey, a Trappists, Trappist monastery located at 1098 Mepkin Abbey Road, Moncks Corner, South Carolina. The garden is open to t ...
. File:Mepkin Abby Entrance.jpg, Mepkin Abby Entrance File:Mepkin Abbey1.jpg, Mepkin Abbey File:Mepkin Abbey2.jpg, Mepkin Abbey File:Mepkin Abbey3.jpg, Mepkin Abbey


Egg farming controversy

In February 2007,
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; , stylized as PeTA) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. PETA reports that PETA entities hav ...
released video of Mepkin Abbey's
battery cage Battery cages are a housing system used for various animal production methods, but primarily for egg-laying hens. The name arises from the arrangement of rows and columns of identical cages connected together, in a unit, as in an artillery batt ...
egg operation, showing debeaked hens crowded inside battery cages and a monk discussing the practice of
forced molting Forced molting, sometimes known as induced molting, is the practice by some poultry industries of artificially provoking a flock to molt simultaneously, typically by withdrawing food for 7–14 days and sometimes also withdrawing water for an ext ...
. PETA cited earlier statements by
Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...
on factory farming, in which the pontiff criticized the "industrial use of creatures, so that geese are fed in such a way as to produce as large a liver as possible, or hens live so packed together that they become just caricatures of birds" as being incompatible with Biblical teachings on animals. Mepkin Abbey defended itself by citing their compliance with the animal welfare standards of the United Egg Producers. Furthering the controversy, it was discovered shortly after the release of the video that many scenes shown in the video, such as those of dead chickens of the floor, were actually shot at a separate facility rather than at Mepkin Abbey. In December 2007, Mepkin announced on its website that it would phase out the egg production operation which had been its main income, citing the controversy and its disturbance of their monastic way of life. They eventually decided on a mushroom production operation.


Leaders of Mepkin Abbey


Abbots/Superiors


References


External links


The Mepkin Abbey web siteMepkin article on their new mushroom production replacing the egg production
{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, state=collapsed Trappist monasteries in the United States Buildings and structures in Berkeley County, South Carolina Tourist attractions in Berkeley County, South Carolina Roman Catholic churches in South Carolina Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston