Mt. Zion Methodist Church

A-126

Inspired by visits from traveling preachers, African Americans in Woodstock organized what would become Mt. Zion United Methodist Church ca. 1867. The congregation acquired the framework of a former German Reformed church in 1869, moved it to this site, and used it to construct a sanctuary. In a town segregated by race, this church was the center of the African American neighborhood and hosted religious, educational, political, and social events. After black residents campaigned for a school building, Woodstock's first African American public school was built on the church lot in 1882. The congregation constructed a new sanctuary here in 1921 under the leadership of the Rev. W. H. Polk.

Department of Historic Resources, 2018

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Woodstock Times and Edinburg Sentinel, 8 Sept. 1921. Shenandoah Herald, 4 July 1867, 25 Feb. 1869, 29 March, 20 Sept. 1882, 15, 29 Aug. 1890, 20 March 1891, 30 April 1897, 30 March 1900. Norfolk Journal and Guide, 14 Oct. 1933, 3, 24 March 1934. Minutes of the Fourth Session of the Washington Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (1867). Gwendolyn Tolliver Nickens oral history interview, 5 Feb. 2016, interviewed by Zachary Hottel, Shenandoah County Library: http://archives.countylib.org/items/show/11506. “Mt. Zion Methodist Church,” Shenandoah Stories, http://archives.countylib.org/tour/items/show/299 John W. Wayland, A History of Shenandoah County (Baltimore: Regional Publishing Company, 1927). Michael J. L. Greene, Valley Churches: Churches in Shenandoah County and Adjacent Locales in the Valley of Virginia (Shenandoah County Library, 1997). “Reflections: Early Schools of Shenandoah County, Virginia” (Shenandoah County Historical Society, 1995). Joseph B. Clower Jr., Early Woodstock: Facts and Photographs (The Woodstock Museum, 1996). John H. Adamson, A Pictorial History of Shenandoah County (Shenandoah County Historical Society, 2007). D. J. Lake, An Atlas of Shenandoah and Page Counties, Virginia (Strasburg, VA: GP Hammond Publishing, 1991).