Chester County · Marker 12-14
Old Zion A.M.E. Zion Church
2231 West End Rd. (S.C. Hwy. 72/121), Chester vicinity
Front inscription
Old Zion Church formally organized by 1873. It was originally located 2 mi. E on Goings Rd. where it shared a cemetery with St. Paul Baptist Church. Around 1890, Old Zion moved to this site on land conveyed by Martha Wise to church trustees John Franklin, Captain Jaggers, Ezekiel Simpson, Nealy Walker, and Abraham Wright. Members built a wood frame church with a front tower.
Reverse inscription
Old Zion was part of a wave of African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion congregations founded in S.C. after the 1867 establishment of the Church’s state conference. Old Zion disbanded sometime around 1970. The church building fell into ruins. In 2010, trustee descendants organized the Old Zion-St. Paul Halsellville Cemetery Association to maintain and preserve the site.