The Fernvale Community Church sits on a parcel of land granted to a Revolutionary War soldier from North Carolina named Samuel Smith. His grandson, also named Samuel Smith, and his wife Eliza, actually sold the land, for five dollars, to the trustees of the McEwen Chapel of the Methodist Episcopal Church South of Tennessee. The church was actually organized on October 10th 1849 as the South Harpeth Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1885 the first house of worship was erected on the site and was in use until 2008 when it was destroyed by the tornadoes that ripped through Williamson County. The current building opened for services on December 6, 2009.

The original church services were conducted by a circuit riding preacher from Leiper’s Fork, TN named Carroll C. Mayhew. What started out as sort of a revival meeting with services held daily, morning and night, resulted in what is now the Fernvale Community Church.

Services were held here continuously from 1849 until the present, with a few changes along the way.

From 1885 until 1970 the church operated under what is now the United Methodist Conference when, according to the United Methodist Journal of the Tennessee Conference, the church was declared abandoned by the Tennessee Conference Board of Trustees and instructions were given that the property was to be “held until further instructed by the Annual Conference.” At that conference the decision was made to padlock the doors. Proving that you can lock a building but not the Church, the members continued to meet in a school bus next to the church.

On October 9, 1970 the property was sold to the Fernvale Southern Methodist Church and from that date until July 7, 1983 operated under that organization. Then, for reasons unknown to us, the membership separated itself from the Southern Methodist and became the Fernvale Independent Methodist Church.

In February of 2000 the church leaders and membership dropped the Methodist moniker and became a non-denominational community church, Fernvale Community Church. The congregation continued meet here in the original building, with a few modifications like indoor plumbing and windows, until 2008 when a tornado blew through the valley completely destroying the church building, but not the Church. Rebuilding began almost immediately, thanks in large part to a very generous gift from Grace Chapel, and was completed in December 2009 when the doors opened once again to serve those who wish to know and serve the Lord.