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I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help (Ps. 121:1).

The Appalachian Mountain region of the United States is one of the most beautiful parts of America. The Mountaineers who live there are a special, but often-neglected, part of its constituency. The Presbyterian Church recognized a spiritual need there early in the 20th century.

Massanutten Mountain, Virginia (photo by R. Andrew Myers).

The [PCUS] General Assembly of 1915 erected a new synod, new not only in name in concept as well, in that it followed the general boundaries of the southern Appalachian Mountain region rather than conforming to state lines. The Synod of Appalachia originally covered portions of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia, with several churches in Kentucky and West Virginia. Robert F. Campbell (1858-1947), pastor of the First Church of Asheville, North Carolina, who became prominent as a leader in the formation of the synod, served as its first moderator. The Synod of Appalachia functioned in an effective manner with respect to the progress of Presbyterianism within its borders until its dissolution, over its own protest, with its final meeting held in 1973. — James E. McGoldrick, Presbyterian and Reformed Churches: A Global History, pp. 234-235

The Synod of Appalachia was a long-term 20th century experiment by the Southern Presbyterian Church to address a particular home missionary need. It was a chapter in American Presbyterian history that is worthy of study because of the particular focus on the mountaineers who reside in those bounds. Below is a map of the synod’s boundaries as found in a 1927 volume on this subject.

Map of the Synod of Appalachia from E.M. Craig, Highways and Byways of Appalachia (1927) [a book not yet available to read on LCP]. — Map of the Synod of Appalachia from E.M. Craig, *Highways and Byways of Appalachia* (1927) [a book not yet available to read on LCP].

Homer McMillan writes of this Synod in "Unfinished tasks" of the Southern Presbyterian Church:

Synod of Appalachia. It is the territorial unity and similarity of interest of the mountain Presbyteries that lie back of the great mountain Synod of Appalachia. This great Home Mission Synod embraces almost the same territory as the proposed State of Appalachia. The mountain sections of the Church, just as in the case of the States, received scant attention from the Synods to which they belonged. There was a disposition to look upon the mountain Presbyteries as dependent missionary territory, rather than an integral part of the Synod. They had little voice in the councils of the Church. The formation of these Presbyteries, with their common interests and common problems, into a separate Synod has lifted the mountain sections of the Church out of the back yard and has given them a Church-wide prominence. The churches of the mountain Presbyteries having the same educational and religious needs are able to develop their own resources, train their own leaders, build their own educational institutions and colleges, and carry out the program of service best adapted to their needs.

There are people and places all around America, and the world, whose needs the church must consider and address. The Appalachian mountaineers of the 20th century had a history, a spiritual need, and portion in God’s plan, which is still unfolding. Remember to pray for the mountaineers of Appalachia. They have been described as the “strength of the hills.” Bob Childress “The Man Who Moved a Mountain,” Dr. and Mrs. Sloop, and many others have labored to bring the gospel to them, and their legacy is not forgotten. May we continue to pray for the work that goes on amidst the mountains of Appalachia to the glory of God.

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J.G. Machen once wrote:

One thing is clear — if you are to learn to love the mountains you must go up them by your own power. There is more thrill in the smallest hill in Fairmount Park if you walk up it than there is in the grandest mountain on earth if you go up it in an automobile. There is one curious thing about means of locomotion — the slower and simpler and the closer to nature they are, the more real thrill they give. I have got far more enjoyment out of my two feet than I did out of my bicycle; and I got more enjoyment out of my bicycle than I ever have got out of my motor car; and as for airplanes — well, all I can say is that I wouldn't lower myself by going up in one of the stupid, noisy things! The only way to have the slightest inkling of what a mountain is is to walk or climb up it….There is, far above any earthly mountain peak of vision, a God high and lifted up who, though He is infinitely exalted, yet cares for His children among men. (“Mountains and Why We Love Them”).

Another Presbyterian minister who loved mountains and mountain-climbing — doing so with fragile scientific equipment under strenuous circumstances — was the Rev. Dr. Elisha Mitchell (1793-1857). A professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he was a chemist, a mathematician, and a geologist, as well as a minister of the gospel. On a geological tour of western North Carolina in the Black Mountains in 1828 (with return visits in 1835, 1838, and 1844), he observed a peak that, according to his barometric calculations, was higher than either Grandfather Mountain or Mount Washington in New Hampshire. That peak was then known as Black Dome (or Attakulla to the Cherokee), and he reckoned its height to be 6,672 feet above sea level. Challenged by a former student as to the accuracy of his observations, he made a final trek up the mountain in 1857 to prove his claim. Last seen on June 27, 1857, he never returned from that trip. His body was found on July 8 by a search party at the base of a waterfall, now known as Mitchell Falls. Originally buried in Asheville, North Carolina, his body was re-interred at the top of the peak he had set his eyes and his heart upon - later named in his honor. With modern altimeters, Mount Mitchell is now reckoned to be 6,684 feet above sea level, the highest mountain peak on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. The Rev. Dr. Mitchell now rests above the clouds.

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