Location: US 158 at SR 1534 (Parham Road) east of Oxford
County: Granville
Original Date Cast: 1959
Methodists began meeting in Granville County in the 1770s at the home of George Harris. The congregation had built a distinct chapel, the first Methodist Church in the county, by 1778, calling it Harris Meeting House. The first indication of it in surviving records is a marriage bond signed by a known Methodist minister dated July 12, 1778. The minister who signed the marriage bond, Micajah Debruler, married a local woman in 1782 and settled on land adjoining Harris Meeting House. Bishop Francis Asbury visited Granville County several times during his career in America. He preached at Harris Meeting House and stayed in the home of George Harris. Members of the congregation parted ways in 1828 forming two new churches, Salem and Rehoboth. The Harris Meeting House was dissembled and the congregation that formed Salem Church moved down the road closer to the meeting house spring to build their new church. The other group went down the road in the other direction to build Rehoboth.
References:
Claude A. Renn, “Shady Grove Methodist Church History 1855-1955” (c. 1955)
Methodist Church histories online: http://churches.nccumc.org/oxford/History/Church%20History.htm