(from the book, Roots of Roane County, TN, by Snyder E. Roberts; page 105)

The first organized Baptist church in Roane County was East Fork Baptist Church, located just within the County near the point where the Oak Ridge Turnpike crosses the Roane-Anderson line.

The first Baptist Association in TN was the Holston Association which was organized 30 October 1786 at the Cherokee Meeting House in Washington County. In 1799, Rev. West Walker attended the Holston Associational Meeting and registered as a minister. The 1801 Minutes show the Rev. West Walker representing East Fork Baptist Church as their “messenger.”

The Holston Association grew until by December 1802 a number of its member churches withdrew for convenience reasons to form the “Tennessee Association.” Their organizational meeting was held at Beaver Creek (now Beaver Dam) Meeting House with 15 messengers from 19 churches represented. One of the withdrawing churches participating in this new organization was East Fork Baptist Church of Poplar Creek, which was represented by Rev. West Walker, William Rippetoe, and William Robeson.

The first East Fork Baptist Church building was a log structure built near the springs and on the south side of the old Emory Road. This structure was evidently destroyed during the Civil War because Rev. John Seiber (1816-1891) in his Autobiography stated that the valley for 15 to 20 miles was in utter desolation with no house of worship in the neighborhood.

“We commenced to hold meetings in my dwelling house, and in 1869, we built a log church house where East Fork Baptist Church now stands, and a Church was constituted.”

This log structure was succeeded by a large frame church house located on the north side of the road and the west side of the large Church Cemetery.

The Church property, including the church house and cemetery, was taken by the federal government for the Oak Ridge Atomic Project on April 5, 1943. The AEC maintained the Church Cemetery until 1956 when it sold to J. Tom Wheeler a 1381 acre tract that included the Church lot and cemetery. The Church building was torn down, but the cemetery was fenced and is now maintained by the individual families.

No doubt non-association Baptist Churches existed from an early date. Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church was established in 1821, and Poplar Springs Primitive Baptist was established in 1826. The Oliver Springs First Baptist Church was established in 1846, but Kingston First Baptist didn’t appear on the scene until 1877. From these beginnings, the Baptist movement grew in Roane through “Arms” and “splits” until today Baptists are the most numerous among all the churches in the County.