Mt. Zion AME Church / Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum

The Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum (SSAAM), established in 2014, honors and interprets the history of the African American community and their rich contributions to the Sourland Mountain Region of western-central New Jersey. The historic Mt. Zion AME Church is SSAAM’s future home. The Mt. Zion congregation was organized in 1866 and its one-room church building dates from 1899. AME camp meetings were active on the property through the early 1930s and the Church remained in service until 2005.

In 2012, the Sourland Conservancy, a SSAAM partner, campaigned to preserve the church and site, and SSAAM has formalized its long-held mission to tell the stories of its namesake, the African American community of the Sourlands. Mills + Schnoering Architects (M+Sa) is assisting SSAAM in restoring and renovating the Mt. Zion AME Church for use as their museum building. The firm is also working with landscape designers at PUSH Studio to develop a site master plan for SSAAM and the Sourland Conservancy that considers the full use of the property as an educational center and home for the two organizations.