Built in the center of Dorchester , St. George 's Anglican Church was originally erected and completed in 1719 and the Bell Tower , which stands today , was added in 1751 . As Dorchester was being turned into an armed camp for American forces at the beginning of the Revolution , a plan was submitted for fortifying St. George 's Church . Exactly how the church was to be fortified remains a mystery , for the plan has never been found . When British troops occupied Dorchester later in the war they used the large church and burned it before they were chased out of the village in December 1781 . The church was eventually repaired but , like the town around it , was soon abandoned . Scavengers removed bricks from the decayed sanctuary just as they took away bricks from other buildings in town . An 1858 magazine article on Dorchester noted , " '' Rumor says , they were afraid to touch the tower , because there was a chance of its falling on them , and therefore it remains '' . " The Earthquake of 1886 that devastated Charleston , split the tower along its height and for many years after , it was held together with iron straps until it was repaired in the early 1960s
Earthquake of 1886
1886 Charleston earthquake
Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site