Text Box: Nazareth Orphans’ Home was founded by the Reformed Church in 1906, to serve orphaned and half-orphaned children ages six to twelve years. Rev. J. M. L. Lyerly, who operated the Crescent Academy, was the moving power behind the decision of the North Carolina Synod of the Reformed Church to open a home. The McNairy farm of eighty-five acres in the Crescent Community, along with a ten-room house, was purchased July 10, 1906. The Home opened December 1, 1906, with Miss Mary P. Abbott of Pennsylvania as manager and four children as residents. By the time 1956 rolled around, the Home had served 360 children. At this time the plant included dormitories for boys and girls, a superintendent’s home, a farm manager’s home, a steam-operated laundry, and an array of farm buildings. The first floor of the girl’s dorm had two parlors, a library and music room, an apartment for the dietitian, a central dining hall, kitchen and walk-in refrigerator and deep-freeze unit. The Home has always been under the direction of a Board of Managers appointed by the Synod.



Nazareth Children’s Home is located in a beautiful rural setting consisting of 296 acres in Rockwell, NC. The founder, Rev. J.M.L. Lyerly, a distinguished pastor and educator, challenged the Classis of the NC area Reformed Church to establish an orphans’ home, “to be a father and a mother to the boys and girls who had none”. His efforts were rewarded when the doors of Nazareth Orphans’ Home were opened in 1906. During the first 50 years when the home served homeless children and youth as a traditional orphanage, the residents remained indefinitely, leaving only when they completed high school, or reached adulthood.

Today, it is known as Nazareth Children’s Home. We are licensed by the NC Department of Health and Human Resources to serve a legal capacity of 55 children and youth from around the state of NC. Since its beginning in 1906, more than 1,500 children have lived, worked, played, and prayed among the tall oak trees and the beautiful campus. Our agency and each of our programs have all been Nationally COA Accredited. This means that our programs and our staff operate on a “Best Practices Scale”.