Church History
Information selected from "The Centennial of Methodism in Marion, Virginia 1845-1945", and from information compiled by The Rev. C. Douglas Mayo, dated May 20, 1979.
Dr. Miles Foy, a Methodist preacher who had transferred from North Carolina, came to Marion in 1845. He soon began seeking a site for a church building. On March 16, 1846, he purchased the "school house lot", and sold it on December 17, 1846, to the Board of Trustees of The Methodist Episcopal Church. This lot is now owned by Smyth County, and is the lower of two parking lots entered from N. Church Street, behind the Court House. Church trustees were Thomas F. Hull, Benjamin L. Wilburn, J. F. Pendleton, James M. Pruner, William Snavely, William Francis, Alf. C. Williams, James G. Thurmon, and J. W. Schoolfield. The lot was about � acre, and the first Methodist Church in Marion was erected on it in 1847. Thirty years later the Methodists decided to build another church at another site, and they sold the first site to the Baptist Church for $250.