The Gothic Revival wooden structure sitting atop a hill overlooking Cragmont Avenue, on the west side of Black Mountain, has been a well-recognized local landmark for over a century. However, the humble character of the house of worship, measuring approximately 1,800 square feet and topped with a prominent bell tower, belies its historical significance.
The story of Thomas Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church will be revisited, beginning at 2 p.m., Wednesday, June 3, when the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center brings its Echoes of the Valley tour to the hallowed property, including the surrounding Oak Grove Cemetery.
In the decades after the Civil War, many freed men and women of the settlement then known as Grey Eagle chose to remain in the region their ancestors called home for well over a century. By 1892, months before the Town of Black Mountain was incorporated the following March, Miles H. and Martha Stepp donated a one-acre parcel of land to the trustees of James, Daugherty, Ann Daugherty and Emmaline Lytle for the establishment of a church. Logs were hauled from the Lytle Cove community to construct “Tom’s Chapel,” which was named in honor of founders Tom Pertiller and Thomas Daugherty, as the first black church in the Swannanoa Valley…