Founded about 1800, Target Methodist Church is one of the oldest Methodist congregations in this part of the state. It takes its name from Target Branch, a nearby tributary of Four Holes Swamp, and “Target” is thought to be a corruption of the “tar gates” along the swamp’s edges where tar, turpentine, and timber were harvested. The congregation first held services in a brush arbor with a sycamore stump for a pulpit. It was one of several area congregations long served by circuit riders, on the Cypress Circuit from 1810 to 1855 and then on the Providence Circuit from 1855 to 1916. Its first permanent church, a log building, was rebuilt as a frame sanctuary in 1830, a second frame church built in 1873 was replaced by the present sanctuary in 1920, and the cemetery includes graves dating as early as 1820.