Mount Carmel A.M.E. Zion Church & Campground was founded in 1866 in Heath Springs, South Carolina It is a historic African Methodist Episcopal Zion meeting site. The grounds include a brick church, about 55 cabins, an open-air arbor for worship, and a cemetery. The annual camp meeting begins the first Wednesday in September and lasts 4–5 days.
I did not explore the grounds due to several no trespassing signs. Below are images from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. These images are part of the National Register of Historic Places nomination. It was listed in 1979.
The Metropolitan AME Zion Church was founded in 1866 in Chester, South Carolina. It was one of the first AME churches founded in the state after the Civil War. The Romanesque Revival church was built in 1913. It is a contributing property to the Chester Historic District.
Image is from the National Register of Historic Places application and the SC Department of Archives and History
Wayman Chapel AME Church was founded in May 1867 and built in 1882. It is named after Bishop Alexander Wayman, the seventh bishop of the AME Church.
The church’s striking architecture, featuring classic Gothic Revival elements, honors “Mother Bethel,” the founding AME church in Philadelphia. The church is still active today.
Jackson Chapel AME Church was the first church built by freedmen in Wilkes County in 1867. The building has remained largely unchanged in its 150-plus-year history, although the windows were replaced at one point.
The church has close ties to the brothers Bishop Wesley John (founder of Big Bethel AME and Morris Brown College) and Reverend William Gaines. Both were enslaved by Robert Toombs and lived in Wilkes County. The Bishop and the Reverend were responsible for founding AME churches all across Georgia. Gaines’ descendants still attend the church today.
Formed in the 1880s, the Jones Temple AME Zion Church is part of the historic Pigeon Street community. Built in 1922, the church still hosts regular services, even though church membership has dwindled.
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.
Websites store cookies to enhance functionality and personalise your experience. You can manage your preferences, but blocking some cookies may impact site performance and services.
Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.
Name
Description
Duration
Cookie Preferences
This cookie is used to store the user's cookie consent preferences.
