Plans for what is now the Bishop Gravatt Center extend as far back as 1947, when Mr. Julian St. John Cullum made the initial gift of land to the Church and the Right Reverend John J. Gravatt, the second Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina. Camp Gravatt began its ministry in the summer of 1949, offering a few weekends of church camp for boys and girls on the 100 acres donated by Mr. Cullum.

Over the next several years, the camp program grew, and by the 1960's, having acquired additional land, the Bishop Gravatt Center was established as a conference and retreat center to offer facilities for adults as well as youth.

The next few decades brought many changes to the diocesan Conference Center and Camp, as the facilities grew and improved to meet the increasing needs of its guests. The last significant expansion of the conference center facilities occurred in 1989, when the Bishop Cole Lodge was built and Cullum Hall, the primary meeting facility, was renovated, expanded to include a chapel, and - most importantly - equipped with heating and air conditioning. Tragically, Cullum Hall burned to the ground in 2003, and plans are in the works to build a new building to meet the changing needs of Gravatt's guests.

There have been significant improvements to the camp facilities over the past ten+ years: new boys' and girls' bathhouses were added in 1997, additional cabins were constructed in 1998, and the construction of Collett Dining Hall in 2001 has enabled campers to gather for meals - and staff to prepare those meals - in a comfortable, spacious facility that keeps pace with contemporary standards and practices.  In 2006 and 2007 new cabins, largely supported by financial gifts and volunteer hours from churches in the Upper Diocese, were constructed on both the boys' and girls' sides of the camp.

In 2006, the Diocese gave permission for the Bishop Gravatt Center to become an independent nonprofit organization - still focused on providing Christian ministry in the Episcopal tradition. A transitional board was named to move the Bishop Gravatt Center forward.  During the following year, improvements were made to the conference center through the addition of public restrooms to Stewart Hall and the refurbishment and refurnishing of Cole Lodge.

The current Board members are Peter Trenholm (Chair), Ron Gregory (Vice-Chair), The Rev. Clyde Ireland, Mitchell Tibshrany, Benton Williams, and The Rt. Rev. Dorsey Henderson (ex officio).