Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church was one of the first churches to be organized in the East Cobb area. Organized in 1840 as Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church by thirteen charter members, our church has served the East Cobb community for more than 160 years.
Mt. Bethel's third sanctuary, circa 1946, before being moved to the present site where it is now the chapel.
East Cobb was Indian territory (part of the Cherokee lands) until the late 1830’s. In fact, white settlers were prohibited from trespassing on the Cherokee lands until November 26, 1836, although land lotteries had resulted in land grants as early as 1831 and Cobb County was organized in 1832. In 1820, more than a decade prior, Andrew Jackson, who was to become President of the United States in 1829, was an Indian agent responsible for removing all white trespassers from the Cherokee lands. In 1820, Jackson posted a terse warning at the Shallow Ford on the Chattahoochee River that said simply, “Intruders on the Cherokee lands, beware.”
As late as the spring of 1838, rumors of a Cherokee attack circulated in nearby Marietta, causing fearful residents and merchants to bar their doors and windows. The attack never occurred; in fact, the final emigration party of Cherokees left Cobb County on December 1, 1838, six years and a day after Cobb County was organized. However, the final reluctant Cherokees were not removed from the hills of upper Georgia until 1840.
The first Mt. Bethel members were pioneers in every sense. The bustling suburban area that we now know as East Cobb was a primitive frontier when those settlers were worried about arming themselves against Indian attacks. The few existing roads were poor, and river crossings were largely dependent on ferry service. Carts and wagons were the principal means of transportation, and it was common for entire families to walk to church services on Sunday in order to give their horses or mules a needed rest from the week’s hard work.
Located approximately one-half mile east of the intersection of Lower Roswell Road and Johnson Ferry Road, Mt. Bethel’s first house of worship was a one-room log structure with a dirt floor. That original church land is located at what is now the corner of Richmond Hill and Charlsie Drive, and the original cemetery located there contains graves with markers dating to 1859 and 1860.
In 1951, a small porch was added to the original structure, along with three small rooms on the back. Mt. Bethel did not have indoor restrooms until 1965.
It is believed that Mt. Bethel’s first pastor was Walter T. Manning (1806-1889), but this cannot be confirmed with certainty. Reverend Manning was a local preacher whose appointments are not documented during this period; he was not ordained as a Deacon in the Georgia Conference until 1854. We do know that Reverend Manning married into a Mt. Bethel family by marrying Gillie Hayes (1809-1855), a daughter of Thomas and Charlotte Hayes who were early Mt. Bethel members. A class roll of the Mt. Bethel Society states that Reverend Samuel J. Bellah was “Pastor in Charge” in 1870. Reverend Bellah and his wife are buried in the Mt. Bethel Cemetery on Johnson Ferry Road.
