Historic Churches

Learn about the first Pentecostal Holiness Church in Fayetteville. The Pentecostal Holiness movement has much history in nearby Falcon, NC.

The Bethel A.M.E. Zion Church was founded in 1873, as a mission, known as the “Little Ark.”  The late Jack Murchison built a brush shelter to preach to two neighboring plantations.  A few years later, a Presbyterian minister preached at Little Ark and established it as a Presbyterian church.  Subsequently, a Methodist minister from Fayetteville arrived and converted them to Methodism, which later became apart of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church movement.

Campground United Methodist Church was organized in 1860. Its name derived from regular camp meetings held for several days in the early 1840s, at this location. Land was eventually purchased and a log structure was built. The nearby cemetery contains graves as early as 1838.

Records of the denomination list a charter for this congregation dating from January 1756.

The church has its beginnings in 1878 as a result of a brush arbor revival conducted near Carverâ Falls Road.

The congregation originally met in the company store of Hope Mills Number Two, a local cotton mill.

This church began as a vision by a group of dedicated Christians who sought a place of worship and purchased land in 1896 to build a church.

This church was chartered in 1801, and the current building was built in 1893. The congregation was founded by Henry Evans, a black shoemaker and Methodist preacher. His arrival into Fayetteville was the beginning of Methodism in Fayetteville and eastern North Carolina. Evans preached to a congregation of both blacks and whites. By the 1870s, the church became a part of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. A tablet in the basement marks the grave of Henry Evans.

The Reverend William Devane founded Falling Run Missionary Baptist Church in 1872.

The First Baptist Church of Fayetteville was found November 25, 1837. At this time there weren't any Baptist churches in Fayetteville. The movement to organize had begun in the county's rural areas several years earlier. The church included 28 charter members. Until 1854, baptisms were administered in nearby Cross Creek.

The history of the Presbyterian Church in Cumberland County can be directly traced to Scots who settled here in the early 1700s. Services were held in the State House, located where the Market House now stands. The first church building was constructed in 1817, but it burned in the Great Fire of 1831. In 1832, a new structure was built incorporating the surviving brick walls of the earlier church.

According to the early records of the Presbyterian Church it was in 1825 that Galatia Presbyterian Church was organized.

Henry Evans, a free black, built the first Methodist meeting house on Cool Spring Street. The church purchased its current lot at the corner of Hay Street and Ray Avenue in April of 1832. The first building at this site was dedicated on June 23, 1835. It was replaced by the current structure in 1908, the centennial anniversary of the official organization of the church. The stained glass windows that surround the sanctuary were made in Salisbury, England, and feature the rare "Robing Glass" technique, a process in which the folds of the figures’ robes are actually blown into the glass. The creation of such "robing" is now a lost art. Bricks to build the current structure came from the brickyard of E.A. Poe, whose home is now known as the 1897 Poe House (part of the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex). Mr. Poe served as the chairman of the Building Committee.

Haymount Presbyterian Church was organized in May 1874 through the efforts of Dr. H.G. Hill, Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Fayetteville and the Reverend F.L. Montgomery, a black minister.

Magnificent stained-glass windows within this chapel are dedicated to Special Forces soldiers. Also on display, a monument given by John Wayne to the Special Forces for their assistance during the filming of "The Green Berets."

Originally known as Piney Grove Church, it was located about seven miles north of Fayetteville between the Atlantic Coastline Railroads and Cape Fear River Road.

Long Street along with Bluff and Barbeque founded by Reverend James Campbell is one the first churches established in the area. The church dates its history back to 1758 and its congregation was mainly Scottish Highlander settlers of the area. Only open to groups of 15 people or more.

The current building of MacPherson Church was built in 1868 and features brick salvaged from the U.S. Arsenal. However, the first minister, Reverend Angus McDiarmid (who is buried at Long Street Church Cemetery), held open-air services in Gaelic and English since 1793, as the original congregation was of Scottish decent, like many other churches in the area. Today, inside the church, a visitor may see many objects from its past; the first communion service, handmade tin sconces from the original building, the sounding board, and the communion bench. The cemetery consists of many early, prominent Scottish families of the area; including the Shaw's, the McPherson's as well as individuals such as Theopolis Holmes, a Lieutenant General in the Confederate Army.

The earliest available records show that the church was functioning as an organization in 1858.

Completed in March 1932, the chapel is considered one of the region's loveliest. Non-sectarian, the chapel represents one of the government's first fundings for a military religious building. The stained glass windows, composed of more than 14,000 tiny pieces of antique glass from around the world, were installed in 1945, including one window depicting the American eagle and the motto “In God We Trust.”