Mt. Zion United Methodist Church

F-103

Mt. Zion, recognized as the oldest continuing African American Methodist congregation in Virginia, traces its origins to the Old Stone Church, established in Leesburg in 1766. Black members of Old Stone Church, desiring their own church after the Civil War, purchased land here for $250 in 1867 and built Mt. Zion. The Rev. William O. Robey, who taught in schools for emancipated African Americans, led the congregation. From 1939 to 1968, Mt. Zion was part of the segregated Central Jurisdiction of the Methodist Church. Mt. Olive Church, established by African Americans in nearby Gleedsville in 1889, merged with Mt. Zion in 1984-1985.

Department of Historic Resources, 2017

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

“The Old Stone Church,” in Encyclopedia of World Methodism, 1414. Loudoun County Deed Book 5X: 42. Minutes of the Fourth Session of the Washington Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (1867). Mt. Zion History Committee, “145th Anniversary, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, 1867-2012” (2012). “Directory of the Presbyterian Congregation at Leesburg, Virginia” (1954). Betty L. Morefield, et al., The Essence of a People II (Leesburg: The Black History Committee, Friends of the Thomas Balch Library), 2002. The Washingtonian, 29 Sept. 1888. Washington Post, 21 Oct. 2007. Mt. Olive Methodist Episcopal Church, National Register nomination (2005). Mt. Zion v. Eliza Diggs and other cases, Loudoun County Courthouse, Leesburg, 1926-1929.