Our History

Gleedsville and the Mount Olive ME Church

Below is a brief history of our historic chapel. For a more complete history read here.

“Mount Olive M.E. Church” derived its name from the similarity of local terrain to the mile-long Mount Olive ridge east of Jerusalem in Israel. The local ridge that is similar in appearance rises to a height of 505 feet and is called Negro Mountain, named for the free African-Americans who settled there before the Civil War.

John Gleed was one of the founding members of the community church, the first African-American church in Loudoun County. The congregation built on land across the road from Gleed´s home place (which burnt down in the early 1920´s.) The half-acre was deeded to them by Washington and Margaret Thornton on January 3, 1889, for the princely sum of $18. The building´s white marble date stone is inscribed “Oct. 12, 1890.”

“Old Man” Jack Gleed, as Isaac Redmond remembered him, died before 1910. He left behind a wife, Mahalla Anne, and the village of Gleedsville, named in his honor. John was his real name, probably born a slave of George and Elizabeth Carter of Oatlands. He did not own property until 1881, but his name, J. Gleed, is drawn in at the site of present-day Gleedsville on a map of the Leesburg Magisterial District, circa 1870

The Mount Olive congregation merged with Mt. Zion United Methodist in Leesburg in the mid 1980´s. The church building was rented from that time until its purchase by UUCL in 1999.

UUCL has also purchased the lot directly north of our chapel. It was part of the farm east and north of the church until 1902 when it was purchased by GUOOF (Grand Order of Odd Fellows in America). Mountain Gap Lodge #2047 was chartered in 1880, probably with the intention of building a meeting hall.

The Odd Fellows were one of a number of mutual aid societies that sprang up throughout the south after the Civil War. Their purpose was to assist families of members through hard times and to provide educational and social benefits. GUOOF was the most popular mutual aid society in Loudoun County area with seven lodges. Every May the Odd Fellows held an annual "turnout" where they marched wearing uniforms to a church for a thanksgiving service and banquet. The Gleedsville lodge may have used the land during this event and Mt. Olive Methodist Episcopal Church for the thanksgiving service. The Mountain Gap Lodge and its sister lodge , The Household of Ruth, appear to have stopped meeting about 1939.