First United Methodist Church (1919)
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Advance further on Academy and First United Methodist Church at 201 East Main Street will be on the right. The congregation of this church was established in 1816 and held their services in a building at the corner of South Aspen and Congress Streets. This is the third building erected by this congregation and it's construction began, according to the plans of architect C. W. Carlton, in 1919.
The church was built on the old home place of Vardry McBee, a saddle maker, merchant, farmer and Clerk of Court. This classical revival-style church was dedicated on Easter Sunday, 1924. First United Methodist Church and its cemetery on South Aspen Street are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Old Methodist Church Cemetery- Located at the intersection of South Aspen Street and West Congress Street, the 1.62 acre site, enclosed by a chain link fence, is about five blocks from the First United Methodist Church building.
In 1828, Reverend James Hill, the first pastor of what is now First United Methodist Church, was the first person to be buried in the cemetery. At the time of his burial, the Methodist church was known as the Lincolnton Circuit, and it was a part of the South Carolina Conference. The last known burial was in 1944 for Nancy Elizabeth Mullen. There are approximately 242 gravestones in the cemetery. After the last burial in 1944, interest in the cemetery declined greatly. By the second half of the twentieth century, many church members were unaware of its presence.
A revitalization project was begun in 2015 with several members meeting at the heavily-shaded cemetery to learn how to properly clean gravestones.
View: First United Methodist Church
