Beth Salem Cumberland Presbyterian Church, located off Highway 30 and Watson Road, was named to the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 2000. It was the first organized black church in the three-county area of McMinn, Meigs, and Polk. It served as a place of worship for all black people in these areas for a number of years. Jake Armstrong with the aid of Rev. Fate Sloop, a white minis
ter organized the church. The land for the church was donated by Mrs. Martha Patsy Fite who also helped in organizing the church. The church had its beginning in a brush arbor until later when organizers were able to build a log cabin. The church also served as a school during the week. In 1866 at the end of the Civil War there were only a few former slaves who could read or write but God through His Holy Spirit lead these Christian whites to aid in establishing, the church as well as teach the first students of the school. Some of the first officers of Beth Salem were Smith Henderson, Aaron Melton, Ben Higgins and Pat Spriggs. Smith Henderson was also the first black teacher to serve the school. Jim Dotson was also one of the early teachers of the little one room school. Some of the other teachers who taught at Beth Salem were Mr. Allen Buchanan, Mrs. Mattie Dotson Cleage, Mr. Walter Dotson, Mrs. Betty Lane, and Mrs. Marian Johnson Graham. Some of the first women to serve the church were Daphney Chestnutt Melton, Jane Spriggs, Rosa Baker, Laura Brown, Martha Buchanan, and Patsy Armstrong. In the early 1920’s the first log building church burned but was rebuilt by friends and neighbors. The current building is a one-story, one-room, rectangular, weatherboard-covered building. It has a metal-covered gable roof and rests on brick piers. Simple and unadorned, the design ensured a nonthreatening African American presence in the era of Jim Crow segregation. At the same time, the construction of this new building was a result of neighborly cooperation and support. Ray Lessely, a white neighbor, donated the lumber and both white and black neighbors were responsible for hauling materials to the site and constructing the building. Some of those who aided in the rebuilding were Jim and John Melton, George Walker and Calvin Prater. In the summer of 1928, under the leadership of Rev. William Dorondo Edington and Rev. Sheller, Beth Salem hosted a two-week-long tent revival that attracted African Americans from churches in Athens, Sweetwater, and Loudon. To feed the crowds, it became clear to church member Hattie Buchanan that better cooking facilities on the church grounds were needed. With donated labor and materials from church members, “Hattie’s Kitchen,” became a reality. This outdoor cooking pavilion has since been rebuilt, but “Hattie’s Kitchen” remains a tradition at the camp meetings and annual homecomings that have taken place here for decades. Some of the other women who aided in the cooking in Hattie’s Kitchen were Daphne Melton, Jane Spriggs, Rosa Baker, Laura Brown, Martha Buchanan and Patsy Armstrong. By the 1950s, the population of Beth Salem declined as the growth of factory jobs and the availability of automobiles attracted people to the nearby towns of Athens and Etowah. Regular church services eventually ceased, but those who grew up in the church held a drive to restore the church was held during the mid to early 1950’s. The drive was spearheaded by the following along with many others: James (Didd) Brown, James Melton, Brice Buchanan, Callie Ferguson, Hattie Buchanan, Amanda and Mary Brown, Abner King, Arvil Watson, Catherine Walker, Luther Boyd, Jim Caves, Frank Hitchcock, Alfred King, and Alfred Caldwell. The descendants of these families and many others from area churches have continued to care for the church and return annually. Every YEAR on the last Sunday in AUGUST, close to one hundred people attend “August Meeting” to remember ancestors and celebrate their common heritage with preaching, singing, and dinner on the grounds at Hattie’s Kitchen.
