MacPherson Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian church in Fayetteville, North Carolina. MacPherson Presbyterian Church is a historic church at Cliffdale Rd and McPherson Church Rd. in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It was made part of the North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program in 1939. Founded by early Scottish settlers and its cemetery contains the graves of Alexander MacPherson and T. H. Holmes, a Confederate general.
| MacPherson Presbyterian Church | |
|---|---|
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Presbyterian Church USA |
| Status | active |
| Location | |
| Location | Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S. |
  Location in the state of North Carolina | |
| Geographic coordinates | 35°03′38.6″N 78°56′44.1″W / 35.060722°N 78.945583°W |
| Website | |
| www | |
History
editMacPherson Presbyterian Church services began around 1793 at Blount's Creek (present-day Branson's Creek) in Cumberland County. It was formally established in the early 1800s by Scottish settlers in the area, and was named for Colin MacPherson, who donated the church's original lands. Rebuilt in the late 1860s, MacPherson Church is located on present-day Cliffdale Road in the Seventy-First Township.[1]
In 1793 MacPherson's Meetinghouse members gathered informally under a shelter along the banks of Branson's Creek. The Reverend Angus McDiarmid, who also worked at other area Presbyterian churches including Barbecue and Bluff, preached irregularly at the gatherings. By 1800, the congregants appointed a committee to construct a permanent structure and to officially establish MacPherson Church.[2]
The six-member committee decided to locate the permanent church building on five acres of land donated by Colin MacPherson, for whom the church was named.[3] Eight elders were appointed to lead the new congregation, including Daniel Macrae, James Torry and Neill Buie, Sr. In 1801 a simple frame building was erected for the congregation. MacPherson Church continued to develop over the next few years, with guest preachers throughout the next fifty years. These included prominent Cumberland County figures like Reverend Colin McIver, a professor at Fayetteville Academy, and Reverend Simeon Colton, the first principal at Donaldson Academy.
In either 1852 or 1854, the Presbytery of North Carolina dissolved MacPherson Church, due to the lack of qualified preachers in Cumberland County. However, Sunday School was continued. In 1867, a petition with forty-three signatures was presented to the Presbytery for the reincorporation of MacPherson Church. Upon its reestablishment, Alexander MacPherson, who was made a deacon and who was eventually buried in the graveyard, donated seven acres of land to the church. In addition to MacPherson, Confederate Lieutenant General Theophilus Hunter Holmes, who served as commander of the Trans-Mississippi department for the Confederacy, is buried in the church's graveyard.
In the late 1860s a new sanctuary was constructed with bricks from the former Confederate Arsenal in Fayetteville. William T. Sherman and his army destroyed the arsenal during their march through the South in the spring of 1865.[4] MacPherson Church has remained active since, and now thrives as a popular suburban church with significant activities in local, national and international missions.[5] In 1998, MacPherson Church, under the leadership of former pastor James S. Welch Jr., established a church to church partnership with a congregation in Oryol, Russia.[6] Two years later, in 2000, a MacPherson church family moved to Russia to become full-time missionaries working with church to church partnerships. Also in 2000, MacPherson celebrated its bicentennial with special events including the publishing of a church history, the building of a memorial cairn, and the purchase of a hospital van for Good Shepherd Hospital in the Republic of the Congo.[7][8]
References
edit- ^ "MacPherson Presbyterian Church". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
- ^ "Library of Congress Item". Library of Congress. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
- ^ Williams, Allison. "Church Marks 200th Year." *The Fayetteville Observer-Times*, October 10, 2000. This article highlights the bicentennial celebration of MacPherson Presbyterian Church, including reflections on its resilience through war, epidemics, economic depressions, and cultural changes. Available at [Fayetteville Observer Archives](https://fayobserver.newsbank.com) or through local library resources. Accessed December 20, 2024.
- ^ "Marker: I-13".
- ^ "North Carolina Architects & Builders: Building B003456". NC State University Libraries. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
- ^ "To Russia with Love: Fayetteville Church Shares Faith Overseas." *The Fayetteville Observer-Times*, Religion section, October 3, 1998. Available at [Fayetteville Observer Archives](https://fayobserver.newsbank.com) or through public library archives. Accessed December 20, 2024.
- ^ Williams, Allison. "200 Years in the Making." *The Fayetteville Observer*, October 10, 2000. Staff writer. Article discusses the challenges faced by MacPherson and First Presbyterian churches, including banned preachers, Civil War disruptions, and financial struggles. Available through [Fayetteville Observer Archives](https://fayobserver.newsbank.com) or public library archives. Accessed December 20, 2024.
- ^ Lambie, Lois J. MacPherson Presbyterian Church, 1800-2000. Walsworth, 2000. 163 pages, illustrations; 24 cm. Available at [Presbyterian Historical Society Catalog](https://catalog.history.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=66685&query_desc=kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20macpherson%20presbyterian). Accessed 20 December 2024.
External links
edit- Official website
- MacPherson Presbyterian Church at the Fayetteville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau
- MacPherson Presbyterian Church at the Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center