The churchyard of Mountain Creek A. M. E. is located in an isolated section of northern Sumter County and reached by a road of deep red clay, perched atop a hill. Named for a tributary of the Flint River, Mountain Creek may be a Freedmen’s congregation, but its history is a bit obscure, as is often the case with the historic Black churches I document. This little building is what beckoned me here in the first place, and it has proven to be as enigmatic as the congregation itself. When I saw the piano [below], I was sure this was the original church, but as I explored the property and learned of an Old Mountain Creek Cemetery, that quickly gave way to a different narrative.

The building is nearing collapse, and I now believe it was a schoolhouse, associated with Mountain Creek A. M. E.

The historic cemetery is full of stenciled headstones, and there are five gravesites painted a shade of bright blue, which some would call haint blue. They are the first of this color that I’ve encountered. [There is also an Old Mountain Creek A. M. E. Cemetery listed on Findagrave, which suggests the congregation was established elsewhere and later moved here. The earliest identified burial in that cemetery is 1902].

An historic church building serves the congregation today, and the front addition, known as the Dr. Russell Thomas and Sister Margarot Camp Thomas Fellowship Hall, was added in 1990.

The church is a typical late-19th/early-20th century form, with separate front doors for women and men.