Religious Life

Spiritual life remained of primary importance to the people. After the end of slavery, the first social institution formed by former slaves was churches.
Remember that the formation of churches tells us where our communities were located. It also tells us about the culture of our people.
At the start of the Civil War, there were 18 Baptist churches, six Methodist churches, two Presbyterian churches, and two Episcopal churches (only one was year-round).
In 1861 Transylvania County was formed from Henderson County. Blue Ridge Baptist Church, which formed prior to 1860, finds one-half the church in Henderson County and one-half in Transylvania County.
Holly Springs Baptist Church also formed in 1860 near the new Transylvania County line in the Crab Creek community. These two churches are counted in the 18 Baptist churches here at the time of the Civil War.
St. James Episcopal Church was consecrated in 1863 in Hendersonville. This became the second year-round Episcopal Church in the county (the first was Calvary Episcopal in Fletcher).
During the 1860s, Bearwallow Baptist Church in Gerton and Dana United Methodist Church were organized. Fanning Chapel United Methodist Church in Mills River was formally organized in 1873, but members were gathering for worship prior to 1870.
After the Civil War, during Radical Reconstruction, more people from the mid-Atlantic and other states began moving into North Carolina. In 1869 there were more Roman Catholic churches in the state. These churches sent Roman Catholic missionaries into Western North Carolina. In 1869 St. Lawrence Roman Catholic Church in Asheville was built, the first Roman Catholic Church in Western North Carolina. This church then sent out priests and others as missionaries to neighboring counties. There are early references to a small Catholic congregation meeting in Hendersonville in 1869 and served by a priest, probably from the church in Asheville. It is not known where they met. It was in 1912 that the first Roman Catholic Church was built in Hendersonville – Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church.
During the 1870s, the following churches formed: Double Springs Baptist Church (Green River), Boyleston Baptist (Mills River), Pleasant Grove Baptist (Etowah), Pleasant Hill Baptist (Flat Rock) and Shaw’s Creek Baptist (Horse Shoe).
In the 1880s, more churches form: Bat Cave Baptist, Mount Gilead Baptist (Mills River), Mount Olivet Baptist (Zirconia), Oak Grove Baptist (East Flat Rock), Mountain Valley Baptist (Green River), a church only known by its cemetery today (Old Brown’s Chapel in Clear Creek), Fruitland Baptist (first known as Green Mountain Baptist), Tracy Grove Baptist and Horse Shoe Baptist.
In 1885, an Episcopal mission church was formed in Edneyville – St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. The granite church was built in 1910.
During the 1890s the following churches formed: Mount Crystal Baptist Church (Big Willow) known today as Jones Gap Baptist, Macedonia Baptist (Macedonia), East Flat Rock United Methodist Church, Moore’s Grove United Methodist (Clear Creek), Middle Fork Baptist (near Bat Cave and Gerton), Mountain Home Baptist (Edneyville), Etowah Presbyterian (first named Midway) and two churches only known today by cemeteries, Mountain Grove on the border of Polk and Henderson counties near the Big Hungry River, and the old Hogney school and church in Hooper’s Creek.
By 1900, including black churches (AME Zion is counted as Methodist) there were 43 Baptist churches, 13 Methodist churches, three Presbyterian churches, four Episcopal churches and an Episcopal Chapel that served as a family chapel. St. Mary’s was a family chapel of the Seagle family. Today this family chapel is the Hispanic Episcopal church in Henderson County.
In 1883 Oakdale Cemetery was established by the town of Hendersonville. Graves from cemeteries at Hendersonville First United Methodist, Hendersonville First Presbyterian and Hendersonville First Baptist were moved at different times to the cemetery. This is the reason there are graves in the cemetery with death dates earlier than the formation of the cemetery. Graves from the Star of Bethel Baptist church, a black church, were also later moved to the cemetery. The graves are segregated by race. There is also a Jewish section of the cemetery established in 1938 by the Agudas Israel Synagogue. The “Look Homeward Angel” from the book by Thomas Wolfe is located within the cemetery at the Johnson family plot.

 Education

From 1860 to 1900, most of the schools are still one-room school houses similar to those prior to 1860. Many, if not most, are still held at churches or near churches. Most of these schools gradually started holding classes again following the Civil War. The first school to re-open after the war was the Blue House in Dana, re-opened by William Gunaway Brownlow Morris. Other schools established prior to the Civil War began re-opening and new schools formed.
From 1885 to 1900, there were about 51 to 53 white, mostly one-room, schools in the county and 11 black schools, also mostly one-room schools. Those not inside churches were typically built of weatherboarding, with a chalkboard, wood stove, desks, water dipper and bucket, erasers, chalk and a broom.
In 1895, the state began standardization of school textbooks. The most famous was the McGuffey’s Reader. It cost 6 cents. Until 1897 a small amount of funding came from the state, supplemented by the churches and local residents. In 1897, the county held an election to levy district school taxes.
In 1898, the Fruitland Institute opened. It was originally known as the Green Mountain Academy, and later became the Fruitland Institute. At first, it also served as a high school for county students. If parents could not afford the cost, the students could work for their tuition. Its main purpose later was to train Baptist ministers. In 1945, the school became officially known as Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute.
The other academy that re-opened after the Civil War was the Judson Academy in Hendersonville. This school also housed a high school (tuition) and primarily trained teachers.