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Bethany United Methodist Church is located near the center of the little village of Gull Rock formerly known as Mt. Pleasant.  There is little recorded history of this church available.  However, residents have passed along some information which has been passed down to them by earlier generations.  The church is one of four churches on Mattamuskeet Charge, formerly known as Mattamuskeet Circuit.

According to research by Alton Payne, a former resident of Gull Rock, the church was established by William Brooks.  He was ordained a Methodist preacher by John Gamewell in 1807.  The records of the Methodist Conference in the Archives of the Methodist Church located in Raleigh show that John Gamewell was the minister for the Mattamuskeet Circuit, now known as Mattamuskeet Charge, in 1805 and 1806.  William Brooks' name does not appear as a minister for the Mattamuskeet Circuit in the conference records which date back to 1791.  Even though William Brooks' name does not appear as a minister on the conference records, the fact that he did indeed establish a church at Mt. Pleasant has been handed down by his descendants, many of whom still live in the village and surrounding area.  It is possible that Mt. Pleasant Church was not a part of the Mattamuskeet Circuit at that the time the church was built in the early 1800s and it was also used as a school building.  This building was sold for twenty dollars.  It appears that the present building, built about 1861, had been in use by the congregation several years before the land on which it stands was deeded to the Trustees of the church.  The man who owned the land died in 1862 before the deed was executed.  In 1868 his daughter carried out his wishes and deeded the property to the Trustees of Bethany Church.  There was controversy as to whether this second building should also be used as only as a "preaching house" or whether it should also be used as a school building as the old one had been.  One group would put a lock on the door and the other group would tear it off and put a new one on.  It is not known how long this continued but today the Church is the center of all religious and community activities.  It is considered the oldest Methodist congregation in Hyde County.

(Above information from Hyde County History published by the Hyde Co. Historical Society in 1976.  All photos taken by Jeannette Marie Zimmerman in January 2013 when the Christmas decorations were still up.