Mt. Zion marks 200 years of 'freedom to worship'
FRANKLIN TWP — This weekend, Mt. Zion Baptist Church turns 200.
The “church on the lake” has seen many changes in those two centuries.
It began as a group meeting in a barn, before its congregation gathered to construct a church building. From then, it transformed from a creek-side church to a lake-side church. The nearby village whose residents called the church theirs was swallowed up by waters of Lake Arthur, but the church itself remained.
“To think, 200 years our church has been established,” said Margaret White, the church's librarian. “And we're still here. We still have the freedom to worship God.”
Mt. Zion began on Oct. 19, 1819 as Muddy Creek Baptist Church, according to history documents assembled by members. Its name changed in 1895 to Mt. Zion to avoid confusion with another similarly named church.
Those early sermons were delivered by Henry Spear, a teacher from a nearby one-room school. Early services were held in Cadwalder Baker's barn, until 1844, when Baker gave the congregation the land where the church sits.
This is an excerpt from a story that appears in Sunday's Butler Eagle.
