New Bethel Baptist Church

This church is one of only a few pre-Manhattan Project structures remaining from Scarboro community.

US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Quick Facts

Location:

Oak Ridge, TN

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

MANAGED BY:

US Department of Energy

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

New Bethel Baptist Church is on Oak Ridge National Laboratory property. Puiblic access is not currently available through the US Department of Energy.

“There wasn’t very much except go to church, go to school and work. That is about all you did” in the Bethel Valley, according to former resident S.E. Coley. As a child in Bethel Valley, Dot Bussell “went to a one-room school and I can recall going down, and everybody drank out of the same dipper, going down and getting the water from the spring and bringing it back.” Though it has long ceased operating, this church hosts periodic reunions for residents displaced by the Manhattan Project, who keep the memory of their former homes alive at this cherished space. 

Located inside the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the New Bethel Baptist Church survives as one of the few remaining structures from the pre-Manhattan Project Scarboro community. The congregation was founded in 1851 but this structure was built in 1924. Many of the graves on site reflect the age of the community; some date back to the 1850s, and mark the burial places of people who fought in the War of 1812. The church had very strict rules governing proper behavior, and members of the congregation could find themselves “dechurched” for disobeying these rules. During services, men and women sat on different sides of the church.  

When the Oak Ridge site was purchased for the Manhattan Project in 1942, residents were told this church would be torn down. To commemorate the church’s impending destruction, churchgoers compiled all the money in the church treasury to build and dedicate a monument that is now located behind the church. Rather than tearing the church down however, Manhattan Project administrators designated the church as a meeting room for scientists. The building played a significant role in post-WWII research in nuclear physics. It was used to measure neutron absorption cross sections for as many elements as possible and to measure absolute cross sections for providing calibration points for the many relative measurements that were being made at the time.  

In 1991 the church was opened to remaining members and their descendants for the first time since World War II. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. 

Continue Your Journey

The church is still used today for special events. New Bethel Baptist Church is on Oak Ridge National Laboratory property. Puiblic access is not currently available through the US Department of Energy. The Wheat Church, another surviving example of the pre-war community, is available to visit without restrictions.