Оңтүстік Каролина штатындағы Мепкин аббаттығы

Trappist monastery in Berkeley County, South Carolina

Mepkin Abbey is a Trappist monastery in Berkeley County, South Carolina. The abbey is located near Moncks Corner, at the junction of the two forks of the Cooper River northwest of Charleston, and is located in the Diocese of Charleston.

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. In 1762 one of his descendants sold the land to Henry Laurens 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. 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.