White’s Chapel United Methodist Church

Organized in 1838, a Methodist Society then called the “Coolspring Methodist Episcopal Meeting House” began holding meetings in a schoolhouse situated on a nearby farm owned by Mrs. Jane Warrington. Trustees were elected and incorporated “to build White’s Chapel” named for Reverend Henry White, a presiding Elder who served the preaching circuit continuously until 1842. A quarter acre of land for the church site was donated by Samuel Paynter in 1839, and a meeting house measuring 18 x 24 feet was constructed later that same year. After this first structure was destroyed by fire circa 1871, additional adjacent land was purchased from Alfred C. Warrington in 1872 and a new church measuring 30 x 45 feet was constructed within the present-day church cemetery. Circa 1920, the second church structure was destroyed by fire. The present church was constructed and dedicated in 1921 by District Superintendent W.R. Mowbray. Together with Conley’s United Methodist Church, Zion United Methodist Church, and three other now-defunct churches, White’s Chapel comprised the Nassau Circuit which operated until the early 1930s. As a member of the Peninsula-Delaware Conference, White’s Chapel continues to serve the spiritual needs of its surrounding community.