A Brief Historical Sketch of our Congregation

Thomas Drake and his brother, David, brought their adult children and their families from Baltimore and settled in Drake’s Valley in 1810. Other settlers were Sigafoose, Harris, O’Dell, Atkinson, Hughes and Parsons. Then in 1812, when Michael Ellis came from Baltimore to visit the Drake family, the first Methodist society in Holmes County was formed.

Rev. John Solomon was sent to strengthen the organization and to build a place to worship in 1815. The group built a small church near the present George Haudenschild home. A few years later a bigger and better structure was built where the Drake’s Valley graveyard is now.

In 1816 Thomas Drake purchased two 80-acre plots of land from the government. He deeded one plot to his son, Eliphalet, who laid out the town of Nashville and donated lots for a Methodist Church and a cemetery. The village was surveyed by Sam Robison on June 30, 1828.

A frame building was erected on this lot during the pastorate of Rev. H.O. Sheldon and J. Hazard, and finished in 1834. The family names in the records from 1832-1870 include Johnson, Drake, Knox, Shearer, Crow, Quick, Parcell, Booth, Slegle, Young, Bidgon, Critchfield, Burk, Buzzard, Armstrong, Heck, Burris, Longshore, Harriss, Freeze, Parsons, Turtle, McCoy, Gardner, Liggett, Hendrickson, Miller, Mallot, Wiggins, William, Hihnd, Clow, Jeffries, McGiure, and Grubb. This building was torn down in 1852 and a new one erected on the same ground.

The Nashville Circuit was included in Annual Conference for the first time in 1841. By 1871, there were more family names listed in records. They are Everly, Boling, Myers, Deyarmon, Vance, Elder, Smith, Campbell, Wachtel, Matticks, Glasgo, DeWitte, Sullivan, Jones, Glasener, and Powelson.

In 1881 the seating was changed from the “Amen corner” and segregated seating to a center aisle with men and women sitting together. The stain glass windows were added in 1901 and the present day arches were built and decorated in 1944.

By 1946 the parishioners decided to put a full basement under the church. The workers used too much dynamite and blew a hole in the floor in the pulpit area. Mud flew all over, but that was the extent of the damage. The kitchen and restrooms were installed at this time, also.

Other milestones include the addition of the first education wing in 1970, becoming a single church charge on July 1, 1994, and the dedication of the newest addition to the church building on August 29, 2004. The addition included new restrooms upstairs and down, a business office, expanded nursery room, large Sunday School classroom, additional fellowship space and a beautiful kitchen on the lower level.

Effective July 1, 2023 the Nashville church became a member of the Global Methodist Church.