‘She lost everything’: Easter morning fire destroys home of Beaufort County minister

It takes a lot to keep Lillie Young Middleton out of church. On Easter Sunday, it took a house fire.

The Lowcountry minister’s Port Royal home went up in flames early Sunday morning, while she was asleep. She awoke to the smell of smoke and escaped without injury.

Once a life-size “time capsule,” with walls covered in family portraits and mementos, Young Middleton’s home is now a mass of charred furniture and burnt belongings.

“She lost everything,” a family member told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. Among the destroyed belongings were some of Young Middleton’s last surviving photos of her grandparents.

Young Middleton’s family created a GoFundMe page Sunday to raise funds for the Lowcountry minister, whose Port Royal home of 65 years will have to be demolished and rebuilt. As of Thursday afternoon, donors had raised nearly $800 of the fundraiser’s $10,000 goal.

The 91-year-old’s ministerial service in Beaufort County spans over 50 years, said Jack Washington Sr., Young Middleton’s eldest child. Although she’s Pentecostal at heart, Young Middleton has led congregations of all types, including Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church in Port Royal, First African Missionary Baptist Church of Port Royal and Grace Chapel AME Church in Beaufort.

First responders from the city of Beaufort/Town of Port Royal Fire Department arrived at the Robinson Street home around 6:15 a.m. Sunday to find smoke and flames pouring from the residence. After putting out the flames, investigators determined the fire had started in one of the home’s bedrooms, according to department spokesperson Deputy Chief Ross Vezin.

Although the cause of the fire has not yet been determined, the incident appears to have been accidental, Vezin said.

The incident is under investigation by the City of Beaufort/Town of Port Royal Fire Department.