The Flynn’s Lick Methodist Church building is up for consideration to be added to the National Register of Historic Places later this month.
The church located off of Granville Highway was founded in 1804 by a Methodist Preacher named Lorenzo Dow. Wes Ragland spent the first twenty years of his life attending the church from the 1940s to the 1960s. Ragland said many buildings in the Flynn’s Lick community no longer exist and that preserving the church would mean a lot.
“Well, not just for myself, but certainly our family and friends that were part of the church years ago would very much love to see that happen,” Ragland said.
Ragland said when he attended the church, the church was outsized by other denominations in the community. The church closed in the 1980s. Ragland said the reason for the church’s closure was due to the construction of the Cordell Hull Lake Dam.
“When the water was impounded for the lake in the late 60’s, people had to either move or stay on, and most of the good farm land was covered with water, and they could no longer make a living trying to farm for a living,” Ragland said. “So most of them just picked up and left the county. That was what happened with my case.”
Since closing, Ragland said the building had turned into a clothes store at one point and is currently a bed and breakfast. The building is up for consideration because it still has its original exterior. Ragland said the building was moved in the 1940s and sits today about 500 yards away from the church’s original location on the opposite side of the creek.
“The members of the church, along with other people, managed to move that thing by cutting logs and somehow or another rolling the church on top of those logs,” Ragland said.
The State Review Board will meet on January 23, to consider adding the property to the register. The church is the only building in the Upper Cumberland up for consideration this year.