Title: Mt. Zion
Description: 1888 Presbyterian mission site on the hill above the Phalombe-Mulanje road. Robert Cleland, from Monklands in Scotland, visited the area in 1888-1889 to climb the mountain. He was warned that strange people lived up there, who had no communication with the outside world. He was the first foreigner to discover the Mulanje cedar. He died a year later, in 1890, of Blackwater Fever.
In 1891 Dr Scott took up the work and a site was established at Linje in Chief Namonde’s area. Scott chose a second site at the foot of Chilemba peak near the source of the Linje stream, which is where the CCAP Hope Rest Cottage is to this day. In 1893 the Mission received title to the land.
The Cleland Memorial Chapel was opened in 1899 at the Mission, also known as Mt Zion. Built of burnt bricks and grass thatch, and with a spire which was said to be the very first of its kind in central Africa. By 1904 the Chapel was attracting a congregation of 200, the school had seven year groups, and there were various industrial craft projects. Boarding houses and District churches were established. However by the early 1930s the Mission moved to a larger site on the main Mulanje/Mozambique road.