Vernon Presbyterian Church was founded on Carson Road, Woodleaf, North Carolina on September 18, 1870. The founding members were are a group of ex-slaves that were formerly members of the United Presbyterian Church, located on Woodleaf Barber Road, Woodleaf, N. C. After many years of worshiping in the balcony at Unity, they felt the spirit of God calling them not only to be free men and women, but
also to worship independently from their former slave masters and crop holders. According to the session records of Unity Church, the relationship was dissolved by the elders of the church. The proposal was approved that the “coloreds” attending Unity could be permitted to organize their own congregation. Realizing that they had a God they served and trusted, they ventured out to organize and build their own church. It was their own strong will and desire to make it on their own without assistance of their former slave masters that Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church was organized. The songs they sang and the prayers that they prayed led them to a wooded area down the road from Unity. The area at that time was affectionately known as “The Brush Arbor” It was there in the “Brush Arbor” that souls were saved and spirits were renewed.
