Mount Carmel Presbyterian Church entered in National Register of Historic Places

NORMAN — Mount Carmel Presbyterian Church and Cemetery in Norman was recently entered in The National Register of Historic Places.

To celebrate the honor, Richmond County Historical Society member Donald McLeod, who grew up in Norman, wrote a paper documenting the history of the church.

The paper traced the history of the church from its foundation by Highland Scot immigrants in the late 18th century. McLeod said he was able to find alot of the information in a history book at Mount Carmel that was published about 40 years ago from a former pastor.

“It’s a general topic that I’ve been interested in for a few years,” McLeod said. “A lot of people that are descended from the Highland Scots don’t know the story. I think the history is interesting.”

Mount Carmel was established in 1773, right on the Richmond-Montgomery County line. There was a high immigration influx of Highland Scots, who spoke Gaelic, into North Carolina after 1739. A Scottish Settlement was populated by McDonalds, McLeans, McIntyres, Stewarts and McLeods around this time.

The church was organized by a young minister named John Bethune.

Within a few years of the church’s establishment, the American Revolution began. Many Highlanders, who had already taken allegiance to the King of England, formed a battalion and marched toward Wilmington to join British forces. They suffered defeat near Fayetteville at the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge. All of them, including Bethune, were imprisoned in Philadelphia.

According to McLeod, Bethune went on to found the first Presbyterian Church in Montreal, and later started a few more churches in Ontario. Bethune was one of the first individuals to establish Presbyterian Churches in Canada.

After the turmoil of the war, Colin Lindsay arrived in 1799 as the church’s second minister. McLeod said he was a colorful person and a great orator, but hated the revivalist evangelicals who were becoming more commonplace. This caused a break in the church. Many members who didn’t like him moved to Ellerbe First Presbyterian. Lindsay was famous for drinking and was kicked out of the church multiple times, according to McLeod.

Between 1820 and 1840, many individuals in the church moved to Florida and Alabama. In 1823, emigrants from Mount Carmel established the Pea River Presbyterian Church in Clio, Alabama.

The original structure was just a log cabin. It was replaced in the 1800s by a wood frame building that still exists behind the current iteration of Mount Carmel. Its current facility was made in 1954.

“It was one of the first, if not the very first churches in Richmond County,” said current pastor James Watson. “We still maintain the old wood frame church building.”

That includes keeping it painted and making repairs when needed. It’s only used on special occasions, primarily to show people what church was like hundreds of years ago. Watson said they get many visitors from all over North Carolina who come just to see the building.

Watson said that the church has met continuously since its founding and he receives questions from many people whom are curious about the legacy and history of Mount Carmel.

McLeod concluded that Mount Carmel has had almost 50 ministers in its 248 year history. One interesting piece of information that McLeod figured out is that the famous Canadian actor Christopher Plummer is a descendant of John Bethune. He said Mount Carmel is one of the fifth or sixth oldest Presbyterian churches in the Sandhills.