In the 1850s, the Sandel and Powell families moved from Mississippi to the south bank of East Sandy Creek and helped establish an agricultural settlement that became known as the East Sandy Community. The Rev. Peter W. Sandel arrived in October 1851, bought property, and lived there with his second wife, Louisa J. (Winborn), and children from both of his marriages. Oliver Powell also bought land there and arrived with his wife, Caroline (Quinn), and their children. Both families were Methodists and soon established a local congregation, holding services in a small building that also served as a schoolhouse for area children. The building stood about 150 feet north of this site, adjoining the East Sandy Cemetery. The first marked grave in the cemetery dates to 1861 and is the burial of twin daughters of A.A. Moore, while oral history from John Oliver Vick held that earlier unmarked graves may be those of members of the Dunn family. In the 1880s, a Baptist congregation began sharing the building for services. In 1903, Lavinia A. Abercrombie and Sallie E. Gibbs sold 10 acres of land, including the burial ground and the church and school site, to J. Rodney Powell, Noah R. Powell, and Peter T. Sandel as trustees of the East Sandy Community. The school continued until about 1913, when it merged with Moore's Grove School. The East Sandy Cemetery remains a reminder of what was once the settlement's center, and residents of the rural community, though dispersed, remain bound together by a common history.