“But one night, about midnight, the burden seemed to be lifted from
me. The deep darkness drifted away, and it seemed that the sun shone
everywhere, and in a certain direction, I saw a long grassy slope
stretch far away before me.
“I could not tell at first, what it meant, for I saw nothing but space.
By and by, a small table appeared, and seemed to come nearer and nearer.
“I looked away, and wondered, and then I looked again, and a _Bible_
was on the table.
“The third time I cast my eyes, lo and behold! there stood my old man
behind the table, the Bible was open, and he was slowly reading from
its sacred pages!
“Miss Harriet, this may all sound very strange to you, but that vision
was as plain to me, as the sight of you, sitting here before me.
“The old man had been working away from home all the week, so I got up
next morning and went about my daily duties without telling my children
what I had seen.
“Saturday night he came home, and after holding family prayers, and
everything was quiet about the house, I told him of my vision--and
listen, oh, it was joy to my soul! He told me that Dr. Norfleet wanted
us to have a place of worship, and that he was willing to give us land
on which to build a church, about an acre, on the hillside, between Mr.
Bourne’s spring and Sulphur Fork Creek. And he said that many other
white friends would give lumber, and small sums of money.
“Miss Harriet, we rejoiced together that Saturday night, as we never
had before. We had been reaching our feeble arms toward Heaven a long
time, pleading for the blessing that was now in sight.”
Thirty odd years had passed, and a new generation had come, but the
flight of time only served to sweeten the sound of her story. As I bade
her good bye, I was deeply conscious that I would never see her again,
for she was growing too feeble to leave home, and I drove off, feeling
spiritually benefitted from contact with such a Christian character as
Aunt Kitty Carr.
* * * * *
One Autumn afternoon in 1867, a large crowd of the best colored people
of Port Royal and surrounding neighborhoods, assembled on the hillside
where Mount Zion now stands, and organized the church.
Elder Horace Carr was assisted in the organization by Revs. Chess Ware
and Ben Thomas, of Guthrie, Ky. Elder Carr stood under a large white
oak tree, and led in the movement, while his hearers sat around on
rails, logs, stumps, etc.
[Illustration: Mount Zion, Colored Baptist Church, near Port Royal,
Tennessee.]
It was a movement destined to mean much to the colored people of
Robertson and Montgomery counties. Located as it was, near the
county line, its membership was composed largely of both counties, but
since then, other churches have sprung up, and many of the Mount Zion
members joined those nearer their homes.
Alfred Pitt (col.) took the contract for building the first house of
worship. It was 30×30 feet, and erected in a very short time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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