ATHENS, Tenn. — A church in McMinn County and a cemetery in Copperhill, Tenn., have been added to the National Register of Historic Places. They are among nine Tennessee sites added to the register, according to the Tennessee Historical Commission.

Both sites date to the late 1800s and are important to the history of each county, according to information from the historical commission.

First United Presbyterian Church was built in 1892, and much of the original building, including seats, stained glass windows, two bell towers and an inlaid wooden ceiling, are still intact.

“There used to be an old dance hall here before the church was built,” church elder Zelma McClure said.

The congregation was about 40 people, according to historical documents. Early members included teachers from nearby Athens Academy, a school for black children established by the Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen.

That school burned in 1925, and the church was used for classes until the county built the J.L. Cook High School not far away.

Now the church has 27 members and is without a pastor, Mrs. McClure said. But members of the congregation and visiting pastors fill in, she added.

The church’s architecture is described as Athens Gothic Revival and includes two towers, each with entrances into the sanctuary.

McMinn County historian Joe Guy said some of the money for the church came from northern investors who “wanted to build an attractive place of worship for the community.”

Mr. Guy and church member Charles McClure, Mrs. McClure’s husband, said First United Presbyterian has played an important role in Athens history.

It was organized in 1889 and also served as a community center for African-American groups, Mr. McClure said.

He said the church needs some repairs, mainly around the bell tower area where the wood is deteriorating. The McClures said they hope being on the National Historic Register will help get funding, possibly from the presbytery, for the work.

COPPERHILL CEMETERY

In eastern Polk County, the 7.93-acre Copperhill Cemetery overlooks the Copper Basin and contains burials dating from 1895 to 1998, according to the historical commission. Local volunteers have removed brush and cleaned up the site.

Barbara Beaver’s grandparents are buried in the cemetery. Ms. Beaver lived in Atlanta for some time but moved back home in 2000. She visited her grandparents’ graves and found the cemetery in “terrible condition,” she said.

As Ms. Beaver and her friend Paul Perry cleaned up around the graves, they also researched the site. They found records in Fannin County, Ga., showing that elders of the local Methodist church had purchased the plot. One of the original founders was H.T. McCay, for whom the town of McCaysville, Ga., was named.

Ms. Beavers said the Methodist church wasn’t interested in working on the cemetery so she called Paul Archambault of the Southeast Tennessee Development District about a possible nomination to the historic register.

The nomination was approved in May by the Tennessee Historical Commission and added to the downtown historic district.

Workers cleaned up the site and righted some gravestones, and Ms. Beaver said she worked out an arrangement with Sheriff Bill Davis to have jail trusties mow and cut weeds there once a month.

She said Copperhill is trying to acquire a quitclaim deed from the Methodist church. The city could maintain the site and post a sign denoting the cemetery as s a monument to miners who worked in the Copper Basin.