Old Bethel Church
Built in 1790 as a meeting place for Methodists, this structure originally stood at third and Market Streets and
consisted of one large room with an end gallery (slave box). In 1828 it was moved to Church and Mulberry Streets
and enlarged to serve the growing congregation. Replaced by a larger structure in 1870 and therefore nor longer
needed as a church building it was moved to this site and considerably altered thereafter into two private
residences. Restoration of the 1790 large room and end gallery was begun in 1980. Completed in 1982 by John M.
Vessels, Jr. this building and Barratt's Chapel near Frederica are the only two 18th century Methodist Preaching
Houses to have survived in Delaware to the present day.
" We have a chapel built at Lewistown."
... from the journal of Bishop Francis Asbury,
October 23, 1790
Marker is on Mulberry Street near 3rd Street, on the right when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
