Location: US 19/23 (Park Street) at Academy Street in Canton
County: Haywood
Original Date Cast: 1949
The Reverend Nehemiah Bonham founded Morning Star Church in 1825 near present-day Canton in Haywood County. The Lutheran Church, the oldest in the vicinity, was located in a German settlement on the Pigeon River known as Dutch Cove.
Early Tennessee Lutheran Synod records suggest that the church flourished. In 1839 Bonham baptized 60 infants, two adults, and one slave and welcomed eighteen new members into the congregation. Apparently, the synod suggested that Bonham, already in his late 70s, retire in 1843.
Sometime before his death in 1846, Bonham advised his congregation to become Methodists if the Lutheran Synod could not find a minister to take his place. It was not until 1866 that Morning Star Church was reorganized as Methodist. The present church building dates to 1941.
References:
Asheville Citizen-Times, March 22, 1941
Haywood County Book Committee, Haywood County Heritage (1994) W. C. Allen, Annals of Haywood County, North Carolina (1977)
Duane Oliver, Mountain Gables: A History of Haywood County Architecture (2001)