Education a constant for Methodist assembly

By Tammy Stamps-Heise

The first brochure for the Mount Sequoyah Methodist Assembly in Fayetteville encouraged readers to enjoy the “bracing summer climate and beautiful scenery” of the Ozarks at this religious retreat, said June Baker Jefferson, who presented “Happy Trails: The Path of the Western Methodist Assembly from Campground to Program Center” on Friday at the Jones Center for Families in Springdale. Photo by Bob Besom, Museum of Ozark History

One of the buildings at Mount Sequoyah Assembly in Fayetteville, pictured here in the early 1900s, with the photo labeled ‘Superintendent’s home.’

In the early 1920s, Methodist leaders decided a religious retreat was needed for the southwestern states of Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana and Texas. Fayetteville was chosen from 20 competing cities as the site for the Western Methodist Assembly, Jefferson said.

“All the bells in the city were rung to celebrate (the decision),” she added.

East Mountain — the site chosen for the retreat — was renamed Mount Sequoyah. Sequoyah was the name of the famous Cherokee educator who created the Cherokee alphabet, Jefferson explained. This name reflects Mount Sequoyah’s committment to education.

Mount Sequoyah’s charter was approved in 1922, and the first summer assembly was scheduled to begin in June 1923 — leaving the staff only months to prepare.

Like any resort, Mount Sequoyah boasted golf, hiking, recreation, rest, bathing (the bathing facilities for men and women were segregated to protect each sex’s modesty) and study, Jefferson said.

The resort could be reached by train as well as automobile. “Motor car travel is couched in these terms: ‘Any good automobile road map will show (the routes to Fayetteville) ... Well-equipped garages are scattered across many roads,’” Jefferson said, explaining that travelers would probably need to make use of these garages as well as the local hostelries during the course of their journey.

“The real draw (to Mount Sequoyah) were the speakers and lectures,” Jefferson said, commenting that one journal called the retreat the “chautauqua of the Ozarks.”

“From the beginning, recreation and traditional youth activities went hand in hand with religious training,” she said. Mount Sequoyah expanded quickly, constructing dormatories, a chapel and even two observation towers.

A four-story women’s missionary building was built in 1925 and was in full use by 1930.

Although the structure was not intended for use as a laundry, the women quickly adapted it to this purpose. This arrangement suited the women’s needs perfectly, allowing them to launder their intimate garments away from the eyes of the male campers, Jefferson explained.

The administrators of the retreat planned to build an ornate hotel and resort on the grounds, but they could find no investors for the project during the Great Depression.

Mount Sequoyah, like the rest of the nation, suffered through the Depression. “The staff went without pay, and the administrators paid the loan’s interest out of their own pockets to keep the retreat,” Jefferson said.

Mount Sequoyah evolved from a “campground to a campus over time,” Jefferson said.

As the Methodist church changed, Mount Sequoyah adapted. In 1939, the three main branches of Methodism united. The Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Protestant Church and Methodist Episcopal Church, South, merged to form the Methodist Church. The Methodist Church joined the Evangelical United Brethern Church to become the United Methodist Church in 1968.

Mount Sequoyah’s administrators recognized an increased demand for the facility. In the 1970s, the retreat’s season was extended to nine months, and new activities, such as a bishops’ retreat, were added to its schedule, Jefferson said.

Its facilities are open to any nonprofit organization that is dedicated to education.

“Mount Sequoyah now describes itself as a learning center,” Jefferson said.

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