Banner Elk Presbyterian Church (c. 1915)

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When a young seminary student named Edgar Tufts was sent to the western North Carolina mountains as a home missionary, he found a group of Presbyterians without a church of their own in which to worship. A few months later, Tufts was late returning to complete his seminary studies, because he had just finished leading community efforts to build a new white wooden church which sat on this site. The newly ordained Rev. Tufts returned to Banner Elk with his bride, Bessie Hall Tufts and as the town and congregation grew, the now Reverend Edgar Tufts began a campaign to build a larger, more stately stone church which you see before you (c. 1915). While traveling as far as Blowing Rock to perform his duties as a circuit minister, Rev. Tufts went on to found a girls' school which became Lees-McCrae College, a hospital, a hydro electric plant, and an orphanage before his untimely death at a young age. Turn around and walk back down the brick sidewalk and turn right back onto Banner Road to continue the tour. You will be alerted for the next tour stop as you start to walk down the hill.