The congregation of Mt. Zion AME Zion Church was formed in 1892 by eleven freedmen and women. The first building was a cabin in Dix Gap.

Led by Reverend Joseph Hooper, the church membership proliferated. Their next building was constructed on land now a part of Western Carolina University.

In 1926, WCU leadership approached the church about relocation so that they could build a new dormitory. The university paid $3,200 for the building and $1,000 to move 76 graves to the current site. In Victoria Casey’s Just Over the Hill: Black Appalachians in Jackson County, Western North Carolina, church members were against the moving of the graves because they felt it was sacrilegious; they decided it was worse to leave them surrounded by the campus because there would always be the threat the school could bulldoze them. Church members prayed over the graves before they were moved and again when they were reburied.

Designed by a local Black builder, George Dallas Gray, the church opened in 1929. The original pews are still in use today.

References

Casey McDonald, V. A., & Cochran, M. T. (2022). Just over the hill: Black appalachians in Jackson County, western North Carolina. Western Carolina University. 

Russell, D. (2017, November 8). Cullowhee Church to celebrate 125 years of services. The Sylva Herald. https://www.thesylvaherald.com/news/article_0d923d46-c489-11e7-819b-db9a8de2c288.html