This building might be confused with Mount Zion Church located approximately twenty miles south near Big Sandy, Benton County, Tennessee, which was destroyed by fire in the 1990s,[3] possibly 1992.

"[4] Today, this land is part of the Big Sandy Unit of the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge.

Besides farming, the community produced timber and lumber, railroad cross ties and cleaned mussel shells for the button-making industry.

Impounding the river meant that flood waters would consume a large part of the community, so in 1940, TVA began buying out property and moving all families out of the area.

When TVA purchased the site, an agreement was made with the church trustees to leave the building standing and allow the congregation to meet there annually for a homecoming.

[2][4] The first church building was a log structure built on land donated by James Monroe Gray.

In the Pictorial History of the Old 23rd District, Larry T. Perry states that the current church was built in 1897, however the National Register of Historical Places has listed 1893.

Entries in the Western District Association minutes list also 1872, 1896 and 1899 as dates of construction for the current building.

[1][2] Pastors included pillars of the local community such as James Monroe Gray, Buck Williams and Frank Robbins but also W. W. Dickerson, who lived about 50 miles (80 km) away in Murray, Kentucky.

They agreed with the church trustees, Isham Robbins, T. J. Fielder and W. C. Flowers, to leave the building standing and to allow the congregation to meet there annually for a homecoming.