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Even before a 2019 flood devastated a tiny church in the historically Black Scotland community in Montgomery County, Maryland, the Scotland African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church had a storied past.
“This church was built by freed men and women who lived in the Scotland area,” said Rev. Evalina Huggins, pastor of the church, after a celebration of the church’s restoration and expansion. “It was a group of freed African American slaves who saw the need for a schoolhouse and a church — education and faith.”
Back in 1905, the congregation hosted services in a local home before the church along Seven Locks Road in Potomac opened in 1924. For more than five years, the church has been displaced.
“In 2019, the Washington, D.C., area experienced a once in a lifetime flood,” Huggins said. “Given the fact that slaves built the original church, water began to erode the cement, which was basically mud, that was used to put the cinder blocks together.”
The foundation of the church collapsed.
“Today, there are two bioretention ponds that gather floodwaters from Seven Locks Road, the neighboring community, and a stream,” Huggins said. “So all water is funneled away from the church, down into the culvert.”
In addition, “The church has been lifted 4 feet, so it’s no longer sitting in a culvert, but is now sitting equal to Seven Locks Road,” Huggins said.
The 2nd Century Project was funded by private, corporate, county and state contributions.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday officially reopened the historic building, and an adjacent modern wing.
The celebration of the church’s next phase had biblical overtones.
“Noah experienced a great flood,” Huggins said. “Nobody believed Noah, but he continued to build the ark. He took two of every animal and he took his family.”
“After the flood was over it was an opportunity for new beginnings — we’re kind of like that,” Huggins said.
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