Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church | |
Location | 189 Hollow Road, Skillman, New Jersey |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°25′02″N74°43′16″W / 40.41722°N 74.72111°W |
Built | 1899 |
Built by | Elmer Hight |
NRHP reference No. | 100006611 |
NJRHP No. | 2556 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | June 7, 2021 |
Designated NJRHP | October 18, 2018 |
The Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum (SSAAM) is a history museum located in the Skillman section of Montgomery Township, New Jersey, United States. The museum is located at the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church, an African Methodist Episcopal church constructed in 1899. [2] [3] The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 7, 2021. [4]
SSAAM was founded by historians Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills, whose 2018 book If These Stones Could Talk chronicles the history of the African American presence in the Sourland Mountain region of central New Jersey. [5] [6] The museum emerged from a partnership between the Stoutsburg Cemetery Association and the Sourland Conservancy. [5]
As of December 2021, the museum is still under development as Mt. Zion AME Church undergoes historic restoration work. [7] [8] When open, SSAAM plans to present historical exhibits and other public programming to educate visitors about African American history in New Jersey. [8] It was added to the New Jersey Black Heritage Trail in 2024. [9]
The Mt. Zion AME Church was originally established in 1866 by African American residents, the descendants of both free and enslaved people, of the Sourland Mountain area. [2] The church was originally located in Zion, New Jersey, but was moved to its current location in Skillman in 1899. [2] The church was home to an active congregation until 2005, when it stopped holding worship services. [10]
From the 19th century until the 1930s, the Mt. Zion AME Church organized "camp meetings" each summer to benefit the local community. These events included sermons, singing, and food. [10]
In December 2020, SSAAM partnered with the Archaeological Society of New Jersey to conduct an archaeological dig at the site of the Mt. Zion AME Church. [11] The investigation uncovered approximately 250 artifacts dating to the late-19th century and 20th century, including window glass, nails and bricks, and ceramics. [12]
SSAAM has been awarded multiple grants to conduct restoration and historic preservation work at the church, including Somerset County Historic Preservation Grants in 2016 and 2021; a 2018 grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust and 1772 Foundation; and a 2019 grant from the Somerset County Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund. [13]
Montgomery Township is a township in southern Somerset County, in the central part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located in the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 23,690, an increase of 1,436 (+6.5%) from the 2010 census count of 22,254, which in turn reflected an increase of 4,773 (+27.3%) from the 17,481 counted in the 2000 census.
The African Union Methodist Protestant Church (AUMPC), abbreviated as A.U.M.P. Church, is a Methodist denomination. It was chartered by Peter Spencer (1782–1843) in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1813 as the "Union Church of Africans", where it became known as the "African Union Church".
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Methodist denomination based in the United States. It adheres to Wesleyan–Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. It cooperates with other Methodist bodies through the World Methodist Council and Wesleyan Holiness Connection.
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, or the AME Zion Church (AMEZ) is a historically African-American Christian denomination based in the United States. It was officially formed in 1821 in New York City, but operated for a number of years before then. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology.
The Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, also known as the Mount Zion AME Zion Church Memorial Annex, is a historic church in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. Located on 467 Holt Street, it was built in 1899 and extensively remodeled in 1921.
Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church, Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church or other variants thereof, may refer to:
The Sourlands is a region in the central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey that includes portions of Hunterdon County, Mercer County, and Somerset County. It is centered on Sourland Mountain and comprises parts of Lambertville, East Amwell, West Amwell, Hillsborough, Hopewell Boro, Hopewell Township, and Montgomery Township. The region is flanked by the Hopewell Fault to the south and Amwell Valley to the north that runs from Mount Airy to an area just west of Flagtown and a diabase formation running from Lambertville to Mount Airy. The Sourland also include a hilly area towards the southwest called Pleasant Valley, with a number of farms. Although much of the Sourlands is not conducive to farming, Pleasant Valley and the slopes on the surrounding ridges have a number of farms. The slopes of the ridge to the north are also home to Unionville Vineyard.
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic African Methodist Episcopal Church in Springtown, New Jersey, United States. The church was part of two free negro communities, Othello and Springtown, established by local Quaker families, like the Van Leer Family. The congregation was established in 1810 in Greenwich Township as the African Methodist Society and joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1817. A previous church building was burned down in the 1830s in an arson incident and the current structure was built between 1838 and 1841.
Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church and Mount Zion Cemetery is a historic church and cemetery located at 172 Garwin Road in Woolwich Township, New Jersey, United States. The church was a stop on the Greenwich Line of the Underground Railroad through South Jersey operated by Harriet Tubman for 10 years. The church provided supplies and shelter to runaway slaves on their way to Canada from the South. The church and cemetery were part of the early 19th-century free negro settlement sponsored by Quakers known as Small Gloucester.
Timbuctoo is an unincorporated community in Westampton Township, Burlington County, New Jersey. Located along the Rancocas Creek, Timbuctoo was settled by formerly enslaved and free Black people, beginning in 1826. It includes Church St., Blue Jay Hill Road, and adjacent areas. At its peak in the mid-nineteenth century, Timbuctoo had more than 125 residents, a school, an AME Zion Church, and a cemetery. The key remaining evidence of this community is the cemetery on Church Street, which was formerly the site of Zion Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal African Church. Some current residents are descendants of early settlers.
Mount Zion Cemetery/Female Union Band Society Cemetery is a historic cemetery located at 27th Street NW and Mill Road NW in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. The cemetery is actually two adjoining burial grounds: the Mount Zion Cemetery and Female Union Band Society Cemetery. Together these cemeteries occupy approximately three and a half acres of land. The property fronts Mill Road NW and overlooks Rock Creek Park to the rear. Mount Zion Cemetery, positioned to the East, is approximately 67,300 square feet in area; the Female Union Band Cemetery, situated to the West, contains approximately 66,500 square feet. Mount Zion Cemetery, founded in 1808 as The Old Methodist Burial Ground, was leased property later sold to Mount Zion United Methodist Church. Although the cemetery buried both White and Black persons since its inception, it served an almost exclusively African American population after 1849. In 1842, the Female Union Band Society purchased the western lot to establish a secular burying ground for African Americans. Both cemeteries were abandoned by 1950.
The Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, also known as "Mother Zion", located at 140–148 West 137th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, is the oldest African-American church in New York City, and the "mother church" of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion conference.
St. David African Methodist Episcopal Zion Cemetery is a historic cemetery located in the Eastville community of Sag Harbor, New York. It is anchored by the AME church, the Eastville Historical Society House on NY 114 and the St. David Cemetery. The site has around 100 graves, including that of Reverend J. P. Thompson, the first pastor of the St. David AME Zion Church.
The A.M.E. Zion Church of Kingston is an African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church located in Kingston, New York. Founded in 1848, as a land grant from wealthy Black residents, Mrs. Sarah-Ann Hasbrouck and her husband, Alexander, it is the oldest continuous African-American congregation in Kingston and Ulster County. The church is located at 26 Franklin Street in the city's Fourth Ward.
The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is a program formed in 2017 to aid stewards of Black cultural sites throughout the nation in preserving both physical landmarks, their material collections and associated narratives. It was organized under the auspices of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The initiative which awards grants to select applicants and advocates of Black history is led by architectural historian Brent Leggs. It is the largest program in America to preserve places associated with Black history and has currently raised over $150 million.
The Sourland Conservancy is a non-governmental, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to protect, promote and preserve The Sourlands, a region encompassing Sourland Mountain in central New Jersey.