History
History of Wauhatchie UMC
Wauhatchie United Methodist Church is now in its sixth sanctuary. The history of this hard-working determined congregation dates all the way back to the days of the Cherokee Indian nation. It began as a Methodist Society.
Wauhatchie bears the name of Cherokee Indian Chief Wauhatchie Glass whose home was located south of Wauhatchie Junction. He Served in a company of Cherokees in the war of 1812, fighting the Creeks. Old records say Wauhatchie was severly wounded and lost his horse. He Later followed the trail of tears west when the Cherokees were deported.
Judge Will Cummings, whose mother was a charter member of the Old Wauhatchie, once said, “the name “Wauhatchie” was the Cherokee word for Beautiful Mountain and Valley.”
An article in the Chattanooga News-Free Press on November 26, 1977 reported Wauhatchie has come a long way from humble beginnings on land where Indians walked and where Civil War Soldiers wounded in battle were treated in a log house-church.
Bob Hicks, John Barrett’s grandfather, stated that the church had its origin prior to the War of 1812 in a log house on Old Kelly’s Ferry Road, at the foot of Grinde Stone Mountain (now called Raccoon Mountain.) This structure, it is believed, was located in a grove on the property where John Barrett now lives. Parson Jacob Houst walked a trail across Aetna Mountain to preach on Sunday Mornings. At that time it is was known as the Cedar Grove Methodist Church.
This structure burned and the congregation moved across Kelly’s Ferry Road to the farm of Larkin O’Barr. It was later used as a hospital during the Civil War. After the war, about 1870, the congregation moved across the valley to another log house on Rowen Spring on Wauhatchie Pike. It burned that same year and a new church was built. It stood on land given by John Cummings, the father of Judge Will Cummings. In 1945 it was condemned as unsafe for worship. (Near this site in a locust grove, one will find the unmarked graves of the Confederate soliders who fell in the bloody Battle of Wauhatchie.) This church was used as a school and church for all denominations, except Mormon, according to an old deed.
In 1946 a small congregation of 25 hard working members began erecting a beautiful little white church on the present site. The first service was held on December 14, 1947. Rev. Ray Dobson was the pastor. Dedication services were held on October 30, 1949 by Bishop Paul B. Kern, who was the President of the Council of Bishops and Bishop of the Holston Conference of the Methodist Church. They Contiuned worshiping in the building until the mid 1960s when the congregation with 363 Members needed more room.
This was the second building on this location.
The structure was completed in three phases. The first was dedicated in 1966 and included a fellowship hall, kitchen and classrooms. The second phase was completed in 1972 and included additional classrooms, kings hall, library and pastor’s study.
The present worship center was consecrated on November 27, 1977. Bishop H. Ellis Finger led in the consecration service. The same scripture and responsive reading used in the dedication service on October 3, 1949 was used.
The church had been in ministry in the area from prior to the Civil War days. At one time the congregation worshiped in a hospital building which was used during the Civil War.
Whautachie is a church with a vital history. Not only is the church a part of the history of the valley, but the area known as Wauhatchie is a historical landmark too. The Battle of Wauhatchie, which was a prelude to the Battle of Lookout Mountain, was fought by moonlight in October 29, 1863. It was near this battle ground where an old log church called Cedar Grove was used as a hospital for the wounded and which later became known as the Wauhatchie Methodist Church.
Today, people are still moving into this beautiful valley. Even as the old log church served as a hospital for the wounded of the Battle of Wauhatchie, this church continues to minister to the wounded spirits and the broken hearts of our age. The tenaciousness of the congregation is best revealed in the story about “The woman who saved Old Wauhatchie.”
Over sixty years ago the church was struggling to stay alive. In fact it was about to close its doors. There were only 10 people attending. But there was a good mother who wouldn’t say quit. Sunday after Sunday she would harness up the old horse to the buggy, load her children and take off to Wauhatchie to church. One cold Sunday morning while they were standing around waiting for the old stove to warm up, one of the children said to her mother, “Why don’t we just go to St. Elmo for church? There are so few of us here.” The mother replied, “As long as there are two or three, we’ll stay. ” That mother was Lula Fryar, the mother of Rosalie Carnes and Mrs. Marie Manning, and the grandmother of Joe Manning. She was the great-grandmother of Kristie and Wendy Manning. All of these and many more have kept the church alive and well.
In 1947 Wauhatchie United Methodist Church came off the Wauhatchie Charge it had been on with 5 other churches and became a Station Church.
Current Sanctuary Under Construction 1977
