Valley View Methodist Church

1945 to Present

Location

The church is eight miles north of Jonesborough near Sulphur Springs and Fall Branch.

History

The Valley View United Methodist Church began as a mission church in an open-air service in front of a country grocery store, Hartman Center, in 1945. The 36×50′ building is a cinder block construction, plastered and painted white which seats 200. Stained glass memorial windows complete the church.

Rev. George Atkinson preached the guiding sermon on a September Sunday in 1945 while he was serving the Sulphur Springs area. The first service was the outcome of a growing feeling by Rev. Atkinson from his visits with many of the homes of the community and their inaccessibility to any nearby church.

After the initial service, the circuit minister announced that a Sunday School would be organized the following Sunday in a 150 yr. old log building a few hundred yards away. The log house had been used for storing tobacco. Fifty-three attended the first Sunday School in October 1945 and grew to an average attendance of 65 with as many as 81 being present at times. Shortly after the Sunday School started, Rev. Atkinson held a well attended revival in the log structure. Eleven converts were announced.

For a time, two Sunday School classes were held in the home of Mrs. Bessie Hartman across the road from the old log building. Mrs. Hartman gave one-half acre for the church and an additional quarter acre was purchased. The new church was built on the Bob Hartman farm near the old log building.

The new church building was entered into on Nov. 10, 1946.

Members

Charter members in 1946 included:

Pastors

Submitted by Elaine Cantrell, P.O. Box 1131, Jonesborough, TN 37659.