New Bethel United Methodist Church

The New Bethel united Methodist Church is located at 918 New Bethel Rd, Dayton, Tennessee.

In 1869, Pleasant Miller Purser obtained an acre lot for just one dollar. A log cabin was built there for worship. It was known as the Bethel Episcopal Church, South.

According to information from the Rhea County Historical Societies publication “Churches and Schools”, the cabin in the 1990’s was enclosed in a barn on the Perkinson’s farm nearby.

In 1898, James Spence donated the property that the church sits on today. When completed the church was known as the New Bethel Methodist Church, South.

Sometime between 1912 and 1915, the church burned to the ground. It was rebuilt on the same property.

In 1938, there was a merger between the Methodist Episcopal Church, North, Methodist Episcopal Church, South and the Methodist Protestants thus becoming the Methodist Church.

In 1968, another merger took place between the Methodist Church and the United Brethren Church Evangelical, and became the New Bethel United Methodist Church as it is known today.

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