Village of Lima
The members of Mount Zion A.M.E. Church supported the Anti-Slavery Society’s effort
to help runaway slaves reach freedom. New Jersey was intimately associated with
Philadelphia and the adjoining section in the Underground Railroad System. New Jersey
provided at least three important outlets for runaways, from the territory South and West
of the Delaware River.
About the Church
The Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.) Church is a one-story frame
church built about 1834, remodeled in 1887, and enlarged in 1959. It stands on the northwesterly side of Garwin Road (formerly Hendrickson Mill Road) in Woolwich Township, Gloucester County, about one-quarter mile from the intersection of Garwin Road and U.S. Route 322. This site lies within the African American settlement of Small Gloucester (also known as Dutchtown,
Underground Railroad
The Lewis and Sharper families were among the original members of the Mount Zion A.M.E. Church. The Vanleers, Blacks and Rulons were a the few families in Woolwich Township that financially supported the Underground Railroad movement Ref PA Archives. The members of Mount Zion A.M.E. Church supported the Anti-Slavery Society’s effort to help runaway slaves reach freedom. New Jersey was intimately associated with Philadelphia and the adjoining section in the Underground Railroad System. New Jersey provided at least three important outlets for runaways, from the territory South and West of the Delaware River. Many runaway slaves were directed to freedom, by way of those Underground Railroad outlets (Siebert 1968, 123). Some African-Americans living in Small Gloucester were runaway slaves. The community understood the plight of the runaway slaves in their efforts to seek freedom by way of the Underground Railroad. The Church edifice became a station on the Underground Railroad, through which slaves made their way to freedom (Ferrell, Wilson, White, Stewart, Payne and Smith 1997).
You might have heard of three other Van Leer sites with Underground Railroad or anti-slavery connections. The Village of Lima, Van Leer Cabin and Mortonson–Van Leer Log Cabin.