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There are few facts known
about the first Mt. Horeb church. It probably
was one of the first churches built in this
community during the late 1700's or early
1800's. The information that we do know
has been handed down through generations of
members. The first church was about one
mile west of the present church on land now
owned by Mr. Thomas S. Harmon, and about one
hundred yards northwest of his home.
After the Civil War,
in 1856,
the people built a church near Providence
School. In 1868, a committee met at
Providence and was ordered to sell the
church. From 1858 until about 1890 the
members met with Providence Church and other
churches in the area. Brush arbors and
camp meetings were popular in the community.
Some of these members then organized and
built a "New Horeb" on a plot donated by Mr.
John Fox. The Rev. Isaac Stone,
grandfather of many present members of the
George family, was one of the leaders in
organizing the new church in 1892.
Julia Harmon Rogers remembers that the
members were "plain country folks - they
lived on small farms and were generally poor
with big families. Horeb was one of
five churches served by once preacher and
had services on the second and fourth Sunday
afternoons." It remained part of the
Lexington circuit until 1949.
Mt.
Horeb's previous sanctuary
and fellowship hall were built by
a member, Melvin Gunter, in 1971. The
first service was held on December 24, 1972.
With current membership growing to the point
that folks were sitting in the aisles, the
Faith Moves Mountains program completed
construction of a new sanctuary and family life
center in 2000.
In 1991 while serving as
pastor to Mt. Horeb United Methodist Church, Rev. Franklin B. Buie prepared
a
History of Mt. Horeb United Methodist Church
1801-1991. This history contains papers
prepared by and from information provided by members
of the church whose families had been a part of Mt.
Horeb for many years. Additional information
for this history
was found in an old church register,
Mt. Horeb Methodist Episcopal Church, South Carolina
Register of Members. The first member list
in this book was undated but appears to be from
around 1894. Other member listings from this
book were dated 1904, 1915, and 1918.
A second church register contains information from
the 1890s through the early 1960s. |