Personal Reflections Related to the History of Mt. Zion UMC
MY MEMORIES
By: Bernard
(Bernie) Evans, Jr.
Recollections shared at Mt. Zion's Homecoming, 2007
During the 235th Homecoming Week at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, I was asked to share some of my memories of the church and the people who had made up the congregation. Here are some of my memories.
General Douglas McArthur’s great grandfather was the minister in 1745 and Governor Jarvis, from Jarvisburg, was a member of the church in the 1870s. Even earlier than that, Mt. Zion and Hebron have been on the same circuit since 1854. There were no records of when the church that burned was first built. However, it was rebuilt in 1880, but I don’t know when the North and South wings were built. In 1937 it was wired for electricity and in 1945 it was renovated, at which time the vestibule and steeple were added, along with the bell that came from the Majer Woodhouse plantation. He was in the legislature in Raleigh and was known as the “Hell Raiser” from Currituck. He was great grandfather to Becky Howard, Sheila Grandy, and me. New pews and carpeting were put in the church sometime after 1945.
In 1975 Tommy Grandy and I climbed up to the steeple to see if we could get the bell working. When we came back down to the vestibule and pulled the rope, the bell jumped out of the cradle it was in and couldn’t ring. Then when the church burned to the ground on the evening of Ash Wednesday, 3 March 1976, the bell fell to the ground. I took it home and put it under my shelter until 1978 when it was returned to the new bell tower. The bell rang, but not very well and didn’t make much of a sound. It still doesn’t ring after all these years, but Wes Liverman has taken it down to Kitty Hawk so that it can be repaired – and we’ll try again to get it ringing. Maybe 2007 will be the magic year.
Going back to about 1908, it should be mentioned that James Brown and Joe Owens built the original pulpit with the rail and kneeling bench. It probably should be mentioned that Joe was seven feet tall and the railing and kneeling pad were so high that no one could use it – except maybe Joe. Anyway, they had to redo it. Continued
Please click HERE for Bernard's entire story
The Church Fire, Ash Wednesday, 1976
Recollections by Tommy & Sheila Grandy, 2005
It was around 9:00 pm when Judy, wife of Rev. Denny Wise, called to tell us that our beloved Mt. Zion UMC was on fire. Immediately we drove out to see the building already surrounded by fire trucks and firefighters. Initially the blaze was under the church, coming through the ventilators. But within an hour, the structure was consumed. I remember holding frightened, young Patrick Wise in my arms while staring at the flames. His parents were trying to determine if they should move their personal belongings from the parsonage.
Our charge parsonage [where the Rev. Wise family dwelled] was new with a carport just added, separated only by a driveway from the church building. After the church was considered a loss, the fire fighters concentrated on saving the parsonage and were able to do so.
By the next morning there remained only sections of the railing on the red brick steps* and crumbled ashes of what had been. The same steps where rested, on previous Sunday mornings, Orville Woodhouse’s and Bernard Junior Evans’ tobacco pipes. The little church where my grandmother, Lovie S. Woodhouse, had encouraged all her grandchildren to go on Sunday mornings was nothing but a memory. The rooms where we held Sunday School classes, the altar where Tommy & I were married, the piano, organ, kitchen… all gone.
The following Sunday we all met at the old Grandy Fire Station [now Radio Shack]. Other members we remember there were: Inez Grandy; Alethia Baum; Margaret Dowdy; Gladys Simpson; Ralph, Norma, & Randy Barco; Wendall & Elizabeth Barco; Bernard & Marvaneen Evans, Jr.; Chris & Alline Aydlett; Orville, Ola, & Becky Woodhouse; and Eldon, Phyllis & Buddy Grandy along with many others who gathered to pray and determine our next steps. We were invited by local churches to worship with them and most of our church family initially attended Sharon UMC or Hebron UMC. Eventually we decided to rebuild Mt. Zion with the help of many including Duke Endowment; the Ten Dollar Club; the generous giving of members and friends; community support with fund raisers; and God’s amazing grace.
The first Board of Trustees for building the new church were: Ralph Barco, Orville Woodhouse, Bernard Evans, Jr., Bob Turner, Eldon Grandy, and Tommy Grandy. Besides the more contemporary architectural design, our altar area would now be east of the congregation, towards the rising sun, and graced by a beautiful thick stain glass of Jesus Christ. The building hosted three separate Sunday School rooms, a foyer, restrooms, and kitchen area within the wing. A fellowship hall was directly behind the sanctuary where two partitioned rooms with accordion doors could be collapsed to enlarge the area. [ The former partitioned area is now part of our present day sanctuary.] In April of 1978, under our new minister at that time, the Rev. Clarence O'Briant, the congregation gratefully began worship services through the open doors of Mt. Zion UMC.
* Forty days after the fire an Easter Sunrise Service, led by Rev. Denny Wise, was held on the steps near the ashes of Mt. Zion. Tommy and I had borrowed homing pigeons from a pigeon racer in Elizabeth City, Mr. Holland Webster, and the flock was released for flight during the service. From the ashes later came beauty.
sg/'05
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