Mount Olive Baptist celebrates Centennial Homecoming Aug. 13

Mount Olive Baptist Church in Kings Mountain celebrated its centennial with two special events: a 100th Anniversary Celebration Banquet on Saturday, March 25, culminating on Homecoming Sunday at Mt. Olive on Sunday, August 13, where Rev. Charles L. Webber is Pastor. The Chairman of the Church's 100th Year Committee was Deacon Charles W. Stephens.

Four Castle brothersLim Jr., Ed, Oliver, and Jerry, Sr. - founded the church a century ago. The oldest of them, Lim Jr., was a runaway slave. His younger brothers Ed, Jerry, Sr., and Oliver, all born after the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, grew up together on a plantation in Chester County, SC, with their parents Lim Castle, Sr., and his wife Lizzie Carter Castle. After fleeing to Kings Mountain on North Carolina's southernmost border, Lim brought his younger brothers to join him. They settled in the Compact Community, where they owned and operated a sawmill.

The Castle brothers joined one of the first Black churches in Cleveland County, Long Branch Baptist Church in Grover, NC. Built by former slaves, Long Branch was about six miles from Kings Mountain. As the Castle family grew, it became increasingly dif- ficult for them to make the arduous 12-mile round-trip journey on Sundays by mule wagons or horse and buggy for Long Branch worship services and Sunday School. So, the brothers and other Long Branch members who lived in the Compact Community began to canvass family and friends to determine the level of sentiment for building a church more conveniently located in their community and found enthusiastic support.

Led by the eldest and visionary Lim Jr., the brothers formed a church construction committee. They began fundraising, negotiating land purchases for the church site and trees for construction