Ruralite Cafe: Published 10/31/02

By Lynn Hotaling - Associate Editor

Once established, churches remain

A quick perusal of our favorite reference volume, "The History of Jackson County," immediately demonstrates one fact: Once they're established, churches in Jackson County generally continue to be integral parts of the community.

Of the 102 existing churches listed in the appendix of the 2001 edition of the history book, only two - both Methodist congregations - have been closed. At least one early Baptist church - Caney Fork, which was established in 1836 - has closed, but that community still has three Baptist congregations.

If anyone had doubts as to the dominant denomination in Jackson County, a glance at that list would quickly dispel them. Baptist churches win in a landslide, outnumbering Methodists by a count of 60 to nine.

Cullowhee Baptist claims the title of Jackson County's oldest church. Founded in 1821, Cullowhee's bicentennial is just around the corner, relatively speaking.

First located near what is now Webster, the church was initially called "Unity" and had a congregation of 10. The new church was formed from members of the oldest church in Haywood County (Locust Old Field in Canton) and another Haywood County church, Crabtree, its members lived west of the Balsam Mountains in an area that would become part of Jackson County in 1851.

The congregation moved to a site on Cullowhee Creek in 1830 and changed its name to Cullowhee Baptist.

Shoal Creek followed in 1828, and three more Baptist congregations - Scotts Creek (1830), Old Savannah (1835) and Tuckasegee (1836) organized during the 1830s.

Other Baptist churches organized before the turn of the 20th century include Balsam Grove, East Fork, Hamburg, Jarrett Memorial, Johns Creek, Liberty, Locust Field, Mt. Pleasant, Ochre Hill, Webster, Wilmot, Wolf Creek and Yellow Mountain. Zion Hill Baptist, the last in the alphabetical listing, was the first to be formed in the county's second century when it was founded in 1900.

The local organization of Baptist churches, the Tuckaseigee Baptist Association, was founded in 1829 and initially included seven churches from what are now three separate North Carolina counties (Jackson, Haywood, Macon) and one Georgia county (Rabun). Original TBA churches were Locust Old Field, Waynesville, Cullowhee, Mt. Zion, Cowee, Franklin and Head of Tennessee. (Jackson County currently has a Mt. Zion Baptist, but the history book list does not give its date of organization. Maybe one of our readers could supply the date that church was founded.)

Through the years the association grew and eventually divided into county organizations. Today the TBA consists of some 40 Jackson County Baptist churches. Organized Methodism did not arrive in Jackson County until 1840 when both Speedwell and Love's Chapel were organized by Daniel Pane and John McDowell, two preachers from nearby communities.

Early Methodist churches in the county were part of the Waynesville Circuit, which at that time included all of Haywood and parts of Swain, Transylvania and Macon counties, according to the history book. The circuit was divided around the time Jackson County was formed, and the Webster Charge was organized in 1852.

By 1907 it consisted of seven member Methodist churches - Webster, Wesleyanna, Johns Creek, Speedwell, East LaPorte, Love's Chapel and Cullowhee - and more than 1,100 members.

Four of those - East LaPorte, Johns Creek, Speedwell and Webster - still share a preacher and retain the collective name of Webster Charge.

Episcopalians first began to meet in Cullowhee and Webster around 1879, and those sessions led to the organization of St. David's in Cullowhee and St. John's in Sylva. Construction on St. David's began in 1884, according to the history book, and St. John's was built in 1912.

Presbyterians arrived in the county much later. According to the history book, establishment of a Presbyterian church in Dillsboro was authorized in 1890 but it was not until 1940 that regular services began in Sylva and led to the organization of First Presbyterian in 1941.

Today Jackson County has a thriving religious community that consists of churches representing some 16 denominations and several churches that describe themselves as "non-denominational."

For those wishing to learn more, "The History of Jackson County" is available at local libraries and at City Lights Bookstore. In addition to the list of churches in the appendix, information for this report was drawn from the volume's chapter on religion, which was written by Western Carolina University history professor Cliff Lovin.

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