As early as the 1740s, settlers began to move into the area west of the Catawba River. These earliest settlers were mostly German and Scots-Irish. The Scots-Irish brought with them to America their Presbyterian beliefs, and their desire for a place of worship was an important part of their life.
A Scots-Irish settlement was located among the predominant German settlement in western Gaston and eastern Cleveland County. During this period, the area was known as Tryon County and then, in 1779, Lincoln County. By 1780, this group of settler had organized a church, and called it Long Creek Presbyterian Church after the source of a creek that flowed eastward from the ridge upon which the church sat.
The oldest grave in the Long Creek Presbyterian Church Cemetery is Joseph Blackwood, who died on October 22, 1780, after being wounded at the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7. The first church building was made of logs, and the church built a second, frame building about 1845. The church built their current sanctuary in 1875, and in 1977 built a new fellowship.
The Long Creek Presbyterian Church Cemetery is the final resting place for many and men who served in every major war, from the American Revolution to Desert Storm. The cemetery boasts a variety of tombstone forms carved and engraved by individuals and businesses such as John Caveny; James Crawford; Robert M. Crawford; William N. Crawford; L.J. Crawford; Carolina Marble Works and McLean and Company, both of Lincolnton, North Carolina; and, L.H. Harrill of Shelby, North Carolina. Adjacent to the cemetery is a relatively small burial ground for African Americans, and at least four of the gravestones are marked with the names and birth and death dates of those interred there.