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Erwin Mills donated land for six houses of
worship, with four founded in 1901: Cooleemee Baptist Church (with
the largest congregation), Good Shepherd Episcopal, Cooleemee
Methodist, and Cooleemee Presbyterian. Friendship Baptist (1905) and
Erwin Temple CME (1928) followed. With pot bellied stoves for heat,
these earliest wood churches each burned and rebuilt in
brick.