In 1807, Gideon Draper, a Methodist preacher of the Canaan Circuit, found his way to Bethany. Here he found that a Baptist elder had warned the community against him as "an English spy and a horse thief." Draper was able to give a satisfactory account of himself to a large assemblage of curious folk, and thus began Methodism in Bethany. The early congregation worshipped in the Court House (Bethany was the County Seat until 1842), the Presbyterian Church, and later the Fireproof Building (present day library and Borough Hall), until they built a church in 1833. The present site and church building was deeded by the Baptists to the Methodists for $100.00 on September 4, 1886.

From 1993 through 2008 the Honesdale National Bank published an annual wall calendar, each featured 13 historic sites. The sites were chosen and researched by a committee of the historical society and artwork was commissioned to Judy Hunt and William Amptman by the bank.

This page was one month of the calendar and was made possible through the Wayne County Commissioners and a Tourism Promotion Committee’s Tourism Grant.