By Dr. Curtis Varnell
Mt. Salem church, school, and cemetery recently received recognition as a national and state-registered historical site. Mt. Salem community, located in a rural setting on Spring Lake road east of Corley, was once an active community of farmers, lumberjacks, and rural industry. Dozens of families, including the Whites, Rogers, Ezells, and Lee’s settled there in the mid-1800s and developed a thriving community. Nearby Millard community had a shake mill, lumber yard, a store and post office.
By 1870, people realized the need for education and a church in the community. The White family donated the land and assisted in building the first church. Soon afterward, people desiring to be buried near the church started the Mt. Salem cemetery. The first recorded burial was Mrs. Barbra White, followed by some 75 other burials of local family members.
The current building is actually the third building constructed on-site and was built in 1909-10. Most of the materials and construction if from the original with recent updates consisting of the same materials as the original.
Many people worked to make the inclusion of Mt. Salem as a national historical site; the foremost Jewel White. The celebration of inclusion, delayed for a time due to covid, included a homecoming, dinner on the grounds and a formal program. The program included music by the Culver family, Varnell girls, Leona Cleveland, and others as well as a short inspirational message by Judy Hall. Many decedents of the original families shared stories about growing up in the community and the influence it had on their lives.
The Mt. Salem School and church is still open on special occasions, one being a frontier celebration around Christmas. A visit to the site allows one to travel back a century and glimpse life as it was a century ago.
