Cain's Chapel United Methodist Church and Cemetery

Cain's Chapel United Methodist Church and Cemetery. Elmore County. , In 1820, Elisha Milton Cain founded Cain's Chapel, one of the oldest continuous church congregations in the River Region. Cain moved from Orange County, South Carolina to the Pine Flat area in 1817. In 1820, he moved to this area and constructed a wood-frame building with sliding wooden windows, naming it Cain's Chapel. Established in 1843, the earliest burial in the cemetery is likely for a baby girl who died suddenly as her family spent the night with the Cain family while passing through town. In 1848, Dr. John M. Shelton donated additional land to enlarge the cemetery behind the church as part of a dowry for Mary A. Northrup, Elisha and Margaret Lewis Cain's granddaughter. The oldest graves mark the earthly remains of infant Whittemore in 1848 and Mrs. Levina Benson in 1849. Over 783 graves exist here, and they include burials of veterans from the Civil War to the Vietnam War, whose ranks include Privates, Commanders, and a Bronze Star recipient. By 1885, Cain's Chapel was part of the Deatsville Circuit of the Methodist Church riders. By 1890, members built a white-frame church with glass windows with lumber donated by Dr. John M. and Mary Amanda Shelton., The church used the wood-frame parsonage (1947-1962) for church services in 1950-1951 while the white frame church building was dismantled. Using its boards and beams, the church constructed a new red brick chapel. Through the congregation's efforts, the present red brick structure was finished on a pay-as-you-go basis in 1953. The second parsonage made of matching red bricks, was completed in 1963, and later served as a daycare, and later an office annex with a prayer garden. In 1975, the church added a vestibule, a fellowship hall, and a steeple mounted atop the chapel. A 1988 renovation added colorful, inspiring memorial stained-glass windows to the chapel and vestibule. By 1993, the church built a Family Life Center to house church offices, classrooms, an auditorium, and a kitchen. In 2005, the church added the James Moore Memorial Playground. In 2006, the church demolished the fellowship hall for a new Worship Center completed in September 2007. The church uses the Chapel and Worship Center for various services. Sounds of church bells peal above the Chapel and cemetery from the electronic Millennium Gold Carillon System dedicated Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014., Listed in the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on October 25, 2018 , Marker erected in 2020 by Cain's Chapel United Methodist Church commemorating its 200th Anniversary