In 1831, James Julian donated the land to establish Bethlehem Church, which became part of the Holston Conference and Little River Circuit. A log structure is said to have existed in the church’s early days. The present-day structure was built circa 1886 in the Gothic Revival style and is the only church in Blount County whose exterior is unaltered. The congregation added interior lighting in the 1920s. In July 1989, Bethlehem Methodist Church was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The adjoining cemetery was established in 1887 when Elizabeth Peery Cummings donated additional land for the church and cemetery 24 years after burying her husband, Franklin Cummings. Among the veterans buried there are at least 12 Civil War Union soldiers, including three survivors of the 1865 explosion and sinking of the steamboat Sultana, the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history. In 1969, Sara and Robert McKenry, Sr. donated land to expand the cemetery.