"Craigs Chapel AME Zion Church historic district is located on Craigs Chapel Road, south of Greenback, Tennessee in Loudon County. A rural landscape surrounds the cultural resources, with a historic tree line forming the western boundary of the district. A circular gravel road connects the primary resources in the district, the church with the attached fellowship hall/school building and the cemetery. This road extends beyond the cemetery to the original school site.
1.) Craigs Chapel AME Zion Church (circa 1896, 1899, 1940, 1970, 1980) Built in 1896, in a simple vernacular form, Craigs Chapel is a one-story rectangular building, resting on a concrete foundation. It forms an L- shape with the fellowship hall, another one-story rectangular building. The (circa 1899) fellowship hall was originally a detached schoolhouse located at the south end of the gravel road. Around 1940 it was moved and appended to the church. The present building has an asphalt shingle gable roof with wide eaves.
The east facade, which faces Craigs Chapel Road, features a steeply pitched centered gable serving as a covered entry to the church. This gable is original to the building. Painted white, weatherboard siding covers the entrance; the roof of the vestibule contains exposed rafters. The original bell and bell tower were removed from the top of the front gable circa 1980, due to deterioration. (Both the bell and bell tower are located in a storage facility.) The center of the front gable has a small black rectangular sign, with "Craigs Chapel Church AME Zion," printed in white letters. A series of five concrete stairs (circa 1990) with metal handrails lead to the single six-paneled door placed at the center of the gable. North of the stairs is the air conditioning unit (circa 1970) enclosed by a white picket fence. The fellowship hall, set back from the primary facade, is visible here.
The north elevation has three symmetrical windows set in a weatherboard wall. The windows are clear glass, two over two (circa 1970). The roof features a wide boxed eave. At the west end of the elevation is a shed roof addition, circa 1940, made to extend the pulpit and choir area. At this time, weatherboard was added over an earlier doorway.
The west (rear) elevation has three distinct parts: the circa 1940 shed roof extension of the original church, the fellowship hall, and the small addition for restrooms and additional storage rooms of circa 1980. The fellowship hall is the original schoolhouse (1899) that was moved from its location south of the cemetery and attached to the church building by 1940. The original church extends beyond the gabled portion of the building, forming a rectangular shape. The roof on this portion features a wide eave with exposed rafters. Three small square windows are set in the weatherboard wall. The roof of the fellowship hall also has a wide eave overhang with exposed rafters. One small square window and a covered window are set symmetrically in the west weatherboard wall of the fellowship room. The rear addition of circa 1980 has fiberboard siding, with one small window on the west side.
Both the original south elevation of the church and the small fiberboard sided 1980 addition are visible in this view. Initially, the original building was a weatherboard wall with three symmetrically placed windows. When the fellowship hall was added circa 1940, however, the westernmost window was removed and an interior door was added, physically tying the two wings together. A short brick chimney is located at the juncture of the two wings. The roof of the original church building features a boxed eave overhang. The east elevation of the fellowship hall has two small square windows, with the outline of two widows visible, covered by weatherboard siding. The roof of the fellowship hall has a wide eave overhang with exposed rafters. The windows were covered circa 1940 when fellowship hall was added.
2.) Craigs Chapel Church Cemetery (1831,1896,1940) The Craigs Chapel Cemetery is located directly south of the church. The cemetery backs up to a historic tree line and is surrounded by a chain link fence, thus forming a rectangular shape. The cemetery was the burial ground for local African Americans and members of the Craigs Chapel AME Zion Church. The cemetery contains approximately 100 grave markers, the majority of them are early twentieth century. The headstones are loosely arranged in rows, with a small cluster of gravesites south of a large tree that is located in the south portion of the cemetery.
The land began as a burial ground in 1831, with the internment of James Hammontree, early settler and veteran of the War of 1812. Nancy Holloway Hammontree was the next burial, approximately occurring in 1859. James Hammontree was the original landowner. James and Nancy Hammontree represent the only two whites buried in the cemetery. Following the purchase of the land by Craigs Chapel trustees in 1896, the earliest African-American grave marker dates to 1903. An unknown number of residents were buried without markers in the early twentieth century. The most recent burials occurred in late 1970s. The cemetery contains no elaborate examples of grave markers. The existing markers are small and often unembellished, typical of rural African American cemeteries of late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The materials used to make the grave markers are granite, concrete, and limestone. The extant grave markers indicate that most burials were arranged in family groupings. The cemetery is well maintained.
3.) Church and Cemetery Privy
Between the church and the cemetery stands a wood frame privy with a metal shed roof. The date of construction is unknown; however, older church members place its use from the 1930s to the 1980s, when modern restrooms were added to the church.
4.) Church and School Water Pump (circa 1920)
Residents dug a well and installed a metal hand pump for use of both the school and the church circa 1920.
5.) Overall site (circa 1896, 1899, 1940)
An intact historic gravel road connects the church, cemetery, and former school site, thereby linking all the elements of the Craigs Chapel Historic District. A historic tree line forms the historic boundary to the west and south. The present-day Craigs Chapel Road runs along the east boundary line. The district maintains integrity of setting, association, design, and location.
While the three buildings and the pump have collectively experienced some alterations, some of these changes happened within the period of significance (such as the connection of the church and school) while other attempts to modernize the church in the 1970s and 1980s were ways to keep the church and congregation active. The cemetery, privy, and pump retain integrity of materials, workmanship, and design to an excellent degree. The church retains integrity of design and workmanship since the addition of the school circa 1940. It retains integrity of materials in its exterior more so than its interior where faux-pine paneling, a dropped ceiling, and a renovated fellowship hall occurred between circa 1970 and 1980.
Craigs Chapel AME Zion Church in Loudon County, Tennessee is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A for its local significance in African-American ethnic heritage, especially in the areas of religion and education. The Historic Rural African-American Churches in Tennessee MPS survey found that, for churches dating to the Jim Crow era, several had different but related, buildings, structures, and sites existing on either the church lot or on immediately adjacent lots. In these related church-based historic district, the churches and contributing structures and sites were potentially eligible for listing. The Craigs Chapel AME Zion Church is a good example of this type of development pattern. Throughout much of its history, the church and related resources have been an important aspect of the religious and educational life of the small rural community where it is situated. The property meets the registration requirements set forth in the Historic Rural African-American Churches in Tennessee MPS for church-based historic districts.
The church, cemetery and school are the three primary institutions created in post-Civil War AfricanAmerican rural communities. The Craigs Chapel property has all three of these components. The combination of these institutions in one area exemplifies the tradition of self-initiated service and support present in rural African-American communities. The period after Reconstruction, proved an apprehensive era for many African Americans in the south. Indiscriminate violence and lynchings contributed to the separation of the races. In the time before emancipation, most African Americans relied on their own communities for support. Many were drawn to the African Methodist Episcopal and African Methodist Episcopal Zion churches, all-black denominations that were previously excluded from the south. Sense of identity and culture for some African Americans is closely linked with the establishment and activities of the all-black school, church, and cemetery. The cultural institutions represented in the Craigs Chapel district provided cornerstones of support for the rural African-American community near Greenback from the period of 1896 to 1940.
After constructing the church building in 1896, the AME Zion congregation built a school only three years later, recognizing the need to provide education for African-American youths. The Craigs Chapel elementary school offered education for black children until high school. The school and the church maintained a close association with each other, sharing facilities as needed. Examples of this association include graduation services, school plays, fish fries, and cakewalks that occurred in the church sanctuary. The original school building was physically connected to the church, after construction of WPA schools for both whites and blacks in Loudon County circa 1940. The school building was renovated as the church's fellowship hall.
Craigs Chapel AME Zion Church expanded its service to the African-American community with the incorporation of the cemetery in 1903. Until then, the cemetery land had been used as a family cemetery for the property owners. Upon the internment of the first known Craigs Chapel AME Zion member in 1903, the African-American community consecrated this land as sacred. The first grave was followed by approximately 95 other African-American burials. Cemeteries have held special significance for African Americans throughout time. According to Historian John Vlach the graveyard was "one of the few places where black identity could be asserted and maintained." Today, the Greenback African-American community celebrates this traditional property with Homecomings, Decoration Days, and Easter Teas.
The Craigs Chapel AME Zion Church property is part of a larger historical landscape that has long held cultural significance for African Americans. An active area for Quaker abolitionism, with settlements in Friendsville and Unitia, this area was the location for much anti-slavery activity. As an example, William H. Griffitts lived in Greenback, Loudon County in the mid-nineteenth century (house NR 3/2/89). He and his family have been documented as active members of the Quaker community and promoters of social welfare, abolition, and education. The geographical terrain and location of Loudon and the adjacent Blount County supports the oral tradition of active attempts to assist fugitive slaves and other conscientious objectors. The presence of rivers and caves, in addition to the ridges and valleys of East Tennessee indicate identifying features common in Underground Railroad accounts.
The Quaker activity coupled with suggestive geographical features reinforce the local oral history, which maintains that a cave located near, but not on the property of, the Craigs Chapel AME Zion Church, was linked to the Underground Railroad. This cave is located near Tellico Lake, formerly the Little Tennessee River. Records indicate that the route for fugitive slaves passing through Loudon and Blount counties brought slaves from the Deep South states of Alabama and Georgia through the Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky. The Greenback community maintains the oral tradition of the Underground Railroad in the Craigs Chapel district. The Craigs Chapel community considers the Underground Railroad tradition an integral piece of their history.
The strong cultural ties that post-War African Americans felt with the land surrounding the cave made it a natural location for the establishment of Craigs Chapel AME Zion Church, cemetery, and school. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was known as the "The Freedom Church", claiming such abolitionist leaders as Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglass. Minutes taken from the AME Zion Quadrennial session in 1880 demonstrate this commitment to freedom.
After the Civil War and into the early twentieth century, communities in East Tennessee felt the increased presence of the AME Zion church as missionaries established a large number of churches in both rural and urban areas. This increase is documented in Loudon County. According to Carolyn Groves, AME Zion historian, deed records indicate the founding of six AME Zion churches in Loudon County between 1884-1913. Of these six, Craigs Chapel Church and Hackney Chapel AME Zion (also called Unitia AME Zion, NR 7/6/00) remain the only extant buildings, with the Craigs Chapel and Hackney Chapel still in operation with small congregations. Like the Craigs Chapel site, a cemetery is also affiliated with the Hackney Chapel AME Zion Church.
The 1896 land that now occupies the church was once part of land that belonged to James Hammontree, one of the earliest settlers in the area. Hammontree (1778-1831) is buried in the Craigs Chapel cemetery. Hammontree's heirs sold the parcel of land that contains the Craigs Chapel district to Ben Pritchard in 1842. Pritchard then sold the land to white landowner William Craig in 1857.
On November 16, 1896 Loudon County deed records indicate a sale of one acre of land from William Craig to Dr. B. M. Doyle for $30. Three years later, the Craigs Chapel community purchased an adjoining parcel of land for the school and named the church in memory of the former landowner, William Craig.
The Craig's Chapel school served students from first through eighth grades and was the only way that blacks in this part of the county experienced education at a community school. After eighth grade, African-American students from Craigs Chapel would go to the segregated black schools in neighboring counties."
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