Tag Archives: AME Church

-North Carolina, Black History, Churches and Temples

Historic Mt. Zion AME Zion Church of Cullowhee, North Carolina

August 29, 2024 Cynthia L Jennings Leave a comment

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 

-South Carolina, Black History, Churches and Temples, Historic Photos

Mulberry AME Church-Abbeville, South Carolina

May 12, 2024 Cynthia L Jennings Leave a comment

Mulberry AME Church was organized in 1871. Like many churches in the South, the congregation began meeting in a brush arbor, a shelter constructed with poles covered in tree limbs and hay. It was named after a mulberry tree near the church.

A log structure was completed in 1872. Another building was built in 1878 and used until 1918 when it was lost to fire. The current Carpenter Gothic church was completed in 1919. Mulberry is the mother church to the St. Paul, St. Peter, and Shady Grove AME churches in Abbeville County.

This is a 1939 drawing of the church created during a WPA Survey of State and Local Historical Records.

-Georgia, Abandoned, Black History, Churches and Temples

Beech Grove AME Church-Washington County, Georgia

March 19, 2024 Cynthia L Jennings Leave a comment

There’s not much I could locate on Beech Grove AME Church. The cemetery is quite small, with only a handful of headstones. The last obituary I could locate was from 2004.

I am not certain what this small building is. After locating photos of the Beech Grove School on the eDigital Library of Georgia’s website, I am leaning toward a detached preacher’s office.

The Beech Grove School could have been a Rosenwald School. I hope that when I learn more about the church, I can locate the school’s history, too.

-Georgia, Black History, Churches and Temples

The Church That Would Not Die in Siloam, Georgia

March 19, 2024 Cynthia L Jennings Leave a comment

Located just off downtown Siloam in Greene County, Georgia, is the St. Paul AME Church. This church was in horrible shape, and it’s clear there has been work to stabilize the structure. At one point, a sign said, “The Church that Would Not Die” above the door. It’s been gone for a few years, but those words are coming true.

There isn’t much known about the church. The building is early 1900s. I would not be surprised if they were an early freedmen’s church

-Georgia, Abandoned, Black History, Churches and Temples

The Ruins of O’Neal AME Church-Henry County, Georgia

February 25, 2024 Cynthia L Jennings 3 Comments

I found this church on FindAGrave. I cannot locate any history of the church. The earliest burial is in 1871. That death date means that at least the congregation existed soon after the Civil War, which means it is a freedman church. There are sixteen listed burials with birth dates that indicate they were likely born into slavery. There was no cornerstone to indicate when the church was built. The last listed burial was in 1951. I could not find the cemetery to document the headstones. I will be going back with a friend to see if another pair of eyes will help me locate the cemetery.

The ruins of the church are fascinating. It’s clear that the door and one window were bricked in at some point, but this wasn’t done for all the windows and what I suspect was the entrance to the preacher’s office.