Mt. Zion in Carroll County

It's not often you find a town named after a church. But such is the case with Mt. Zion in Carroll County. In 1865, the Rev John Murphy organized a church in a community called Turkey Creek Mills northwest of Carrollton. One of the founding members Dr Hicks Martin, named the church Mt. Zion for no known reason. Two years later, a log church was built on the present site. The new church flourished and in 1877, Dr. James Mitchell of the Georgia Methodist Episcopal Conference preached here. He was so impressed with the community that he thought this would be the place to establish a school. At the time there was no money for public schools in rural areas and the ME Conference, with Dr. Mitchell had decided to bring schools to areas of rural Georgia in need. Five acres were donated by Joseph Entrekin and in 1880 the Mt Zion Seminary School was opened in a three room building. By that time, the community had been renamed Mt. Zion after the church and school. By the turn of the century, education had improved and of the nine schools, only Mt Zion and one in Demorest were left. About 1900, the new church you see here was constructed and has been expanded and modified overt the years. The vestibule was added in the 1930s. The school closed in 1937. The church still is still very active.
Andy Sarge