Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church was built in the 1890's by the construction company of James Miller. In the background the church can be seen and in the "notch" mountain behind is the road that one faction of Stoneman's Army to enter Asheville (see Board 7).
Dr. Charles Dusenberry, pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church, funeral bulletin. Black Highlanders Collection, Ramsey Library, UNC Asheville
1880 - 1900
6.6 Analyze the influence of growing religious pluralism on American society.

With the growing numbers of Blacks in Buncombe County came the increased diversity of the community. Churches from a variety of theological viewpoints were the prime socializing organization, along with Fraternal groups such as the Masons. Ministers held respected positions of leadership.

Hopkins Chapel CME was formed in 1867 when Reverend Tillery came to Asheville and asked to speak to the freedmen of Central Methodist Church. Refused permission by the White church leadership, the freedmen met in front of the church the next Sunday and marched to the foot of Beaucatcher Mountain singing “We are Marching to Zion” where they gathered in a brush arbor to hear Reverend Tillery preach.

St. Matthias Episcopal, originally known as Freedmen’s Chapel, was formed with leadership of Trinity Episcopal (General James. Martin) in 1865. Land was donated by Thomas Patton on Valley Street “where the colored people live” at the current site on South Charlotte Street. The first African-American minister, Reverend S. V. Berry, was sent in 1874 to minister and begin a school.

Calvary Presbyterian was formed in 1884 when Dr. Charles Dusenberry, sent by the Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church, established Calvary Parochial School.

Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist, led by Reverend Robert Parker Rumley, famous for his sermon “De Dry Bones in De Valley,” began a new congregation on Patton Avenue in 1880, and later went on to build the current facility on Eagle Street.

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