Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church (structure)
Item
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Title
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Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church (structure)
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Description
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Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church, built in 1899
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The Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church was organized in the mid-19th century by African Americans descended from free and enslaved people who lived in the Sourland Mountain Region. Originally located in Zion (currently the corner of Spring Hill and Zion-Wertsville roads), the church served local residents who worked as farm laborers and domestic servants as well as in the region’s quarries and numerous peach orchards.
In the late 19th century, a peach blight swept through the region, greatly affecting the agricultural industry. Much of the Black community on Sourland Mountain was forced to relocate to find work, and the church’s location became inconvenient. In 1899, the church was moved to its current location on Hollow Road on land donated by Spencer and Corinda True.
Corinda's first husband, the original owner of the land, was William Reasoner, a Black Union Army veteran. Her second husband, Spencer True, was a descendant of Friday Truehart, an enslaved man brought to NJ from South Carolina as a child in 1780. Friday Truehart’s life was explored in a two-part production of NJ PBS entitled The Price of Silence, linked below
Mt. Zion AME Church was featured in the award winning 2024 movie, A Complete Unknown about the early years of the musician, Bob Dylan. Mt. Zion stood in for a traditional Southern Black church that Dylan had visited in Georgia in the 1960s.
Mt. Zion AME Church actively served an African American congregation until 2005.
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The Price of Silence, Part 1
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The Price of Silence, Part 2
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A Complete Unknown (Wikipedia)
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Contributor
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Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum
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SSAAM
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Date Created
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1899 (Current location)
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Creator
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Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum
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Constance Mensch, Photographer
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Rights
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Rights assessment is your responsibility. This material is made available for noncommercial educational, scholarly, and/or charitable purposes. For other uses or for more information, please contact SSAAM at mediainquires@ssaamuseum.org
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Identifier
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Unknown
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Format
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Physical Object
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Extent
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1 structure
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Spatial Coverage
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Hillsborough Twp. NJ
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Publisher
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Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum
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Subject
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African American Episcopalians - (NJ)
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Church buildings - (NJ)
