LEBANON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
OUR HISTORY
In 1836, David and Mary Beaty McCarley, and their family, left Anderson County, South Carolina, and migrated to Chambers County, AL, settling on a forty acre tract. About a year later, James A. Beaty, and his wife, Margaret, would follow. The McCarleys and the Beatys were Presbyterian, and were envolved in establishing the first Presbyterian Church in Chambers County, organized on the 24th of November 1835.
At a meeting held in Chambers Courthouse (now Lafayette), on March 21, 1838, a number of members of the Lafayette Church were dismissed to unite in the organization of a New Harmony Church, twelve miles south of Lafayette. At the same time, others were dismissed to help organize a church six miles north of Lafayette, near Nolan's Mill (now called Ward's Mill), and still others were dismissed to the West Point, Georgia church, which was established on December 30, 1837.
Sometime during 1843, settlers of various religious groups joined together and erected a log cabin near the present Sweet Home Methodist Church. Presbyterians, Methodists, and other denominations alternated holding services in the building, which was called Union Chapel.
At the Fall meeting of the Presbytery of East Alabama, held in October of 1843, a number of Presbyterians residing in the Nolan's Mill vicinity petitioned to be set apart from the Lafayette Presbyterian Church and to organize a separate congregation. This request was granted by the Presbytery, and Rev. William R. Patton was authorized to effect the organization, which was done on December 30, 1843. The name "Union Chapel" was used until 1846, when the name Lebanon Presbyterian Church was adopted.
The Lebanon congregation moved to its present location some years later. The present church building was erected about 1870 and dedicated to the glory of God that same year.
Since its early days, Lebanon has shared a pastor with other Presbyterian Churches in the county. Lafayette, New Harmony and Lebanon shared pastors most of the time.
