Our History

The significance of Rehoboth Methodist Church, in Washington County on the South Shore of the Albemarle Sound in northeast North Carolina,  is its link to three prior churches which were built no more than a few miles east and west of Rehoboth, beginning in the first quarter of the 18th Century.

In 1701, the Vestry Act, which established the Church of England in the colony, was passed.  At the time, Chowan Precinct, which years later became Chowan County, with Edenton as  its seat, included land on the north and south shores of the Albemarle Sound.  The Vestrymen of the Precinct established St. Paul's Parish, initially planned  for three chapels: one near the tiny settlement, which at the time was a village around Port Roanoke, another on the west shore of the Sound,  and the third on the south shore.  It was this last chapel which was the earliest predecessor of Rehoboth. 

South Shore Chapel

The first chapel  had no formal name, but was referred to by its location as the South Shore Chapel.   Though no record gives the exact year when the chuch was built, old letters from missionaries to the area make no mention of  a chapel in the earliest years.  As the Tuscarora War struck fear into the hearts of South Shore settlers from 1711 until 1715, it is highly likely no one had time or inclination to think about building a chapel until after the war ended.

The 1733 Map of North Carolina, prepared by Edward Moseley, has a tiny chapel symbol, topped with a cross, on the location of the first church on the South Shore.   As the surveying and map development took some time, it suggests that the first church had to have been built a few years before the map was published.  The church was probably a mile or two west of Rehoboth's location. 

Before the chapel was built, missionaries from England's Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, or SPG, prayed and held services in the homes of landowners along the South Shore.  

In the early days of the "Carolana" colony, county and precinct boundaries changed over time as settlment increased.  In 1729, this area on the South Shore became Tyrrell County, and did not become Washington County until 1799.  Washington County has been Rehoboth's home since it was built. 

The absence of records leads one to guess the first chapel, probably a simple crude structure, did  not last many decades until a second church was needed.

Skinner's Chapel 

Little is known about the second church, Skinner's Chapel, which was built about three or four miles east of the first one.  A state historic marker at Rehoboth mentions Skinner's Chapel as being Anglican, it having continued to follow the denomination established with the Vestry Act. 

Swain's Chapel

When Skinner's Chapel fell into disrepair, a third church, Swain's Chapel,  was built in 1805, just across the swamp  from Skinner's and about a mile from the site that Rehoboth Church was to occupy years' later. 

Records have not been found to confirm if Swain's opened as an Anglican church, or if the local congregationhad turned to the new  Methodist Episcopal Church established in America in 1784.  Changes within the Methodist Church in 1828 led to the establishment of the Methodist Protestant Church. Records indicate that Swain's Chapel became a Methodist Protestant Church within weeks of this new church's establishment. 

By the 1830s it appears that Swain's Chapel was falling into disrepair. Plans for its successor were not made until July of 1850 when a local planter, Joseph S. Norman,  deeded one and seven eighths acres to the new church's trustees for a nominal fee. Construction began, and by sometime in 1853, the fourth church was built.  When Rehoboth Methodist Church opened, it followed  the religious tradition set at Swain's.   

Rehoboth Methodist Church, a simple Greek revival structure, was built of heart cypress and pine in 1853 on one and seven eighths acres of land Joseph S. Norman sold to the trustees of the church in July 1850.  This deed is on file at the Washington County Courthouse Register of Deeds Office in Plymouth, North Carolina.  

The trustees of the planned church included: Thomas Norman, Gibson I. Cherry, William C. Sleight, Ira E. Norman, and Abraham Chesson. 

A descendant of one of the early church members was told that the enslaved men of Joseph Norman cut the timber for the church from Norman’s woods.  It seems likely these men helped build the sturdy church, though any records that could confirm this have not been found. 

The church flourished for more than a century, even though newer churches in the area were more modern, and had electricity, water, and bathroom facilities.  In 1965, C. T. West, a journalist who worked on occasion  for the local paper, the Roanoke Beacon,  interviewed Joe White, long-time Superintendent of Rehoboth’s Sunday School.  White and the other six remaining members knew their church was near the end of its life. The journalist noted:    

The year 1965 was notable for another reason. Church member Alpheus Chesson paid to have electricity brought to the church.  Except for the change from wood stoves to gas heaters, electricity was the only modern amenity added to Rehoboth, already more than a century old by then. The old kerosene lanterns were modified into electric lamps and remained in place to light the church. 

By 1969, there were only four members left.   They realized they could no longer keep the church open.  Any official letters or notices confirming this change in status have not been found.   Evidence, however, can be found in the 1970 roster of active churches maintained by the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church.  Rehoboth Methodist Church was no longer on the roster.   

In 1976, Whitehurst, Carawan, and a group of other interested supporters, organized Rehoboth Methodist Church Foundation. They quickly applied for and secured Rehoboth's place on the National Register of Historic Places. 

The Foundation continued to hold occasional services supported by area Methodist churches. Some of the major work they were able to do with funds gathered from church offerings included having new shutters built, and having the building exterior painted. They also had the 1917 Estey pump organ restored.  Offerings paid for annual gas and electricity expenses. 

Nearly thirty years later, members of the Foundation had aged, moved away, or passed on. A few people continued to hold periodic services, but the church needed more support.