HISTORY OF CORNTASSEL CPC

Monroe County in East Tennessee has its share of Churches, but none more picturesque than Corntassel. Located  in the Vonore Community between Maryville and Madisonville, this tiny church represents the tenacity of the faithful. Records are not continuous, and for a period of nine years there were no meetings, but there always remained a remnant which wanted the church survive.

According to information on the New Hope Cumberland Presbyterian website, "Rev. Joseph Peeler was a Confederate chaplain during the Civil War. He was the organizing pastor of the Corntassel Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Vonore and the Fork Creek Community. Rev. Peeler died in 1871 and was buried at Corntassel Cemetery."

The diary of Reverend William Sloan Campbell includes references to meeting at Corntassel between 1835 and 1940. Reverend Campbell and his wife, Lorina Hendrix Sloan, had their daughter, Mahala, baptized there in 1840.

As early as 1856 Corntassel is mentioned on the rolls of Hiwassee Presbytery. The name of that presbytery was changed in 1890 to Knoxville  Presbytery, and in August of 1894 Corntassel appears in the minutes as having been restored to the roll of congregations.

Genealogy papers from Madisonville Tennessee Library mentioned the Reverend William George, a circuit rider preacher from England, holding services at Corntassel in the 1850s.

The October 9, 1870 Democratic News carried the following item.

On the following Sunday, October 12,1879, the dedication of Corntassel Church will be held. The Reverend J.K. Kirkpatrick and Reverend E.J. McCroskey will be in charge of the ceremony.

Corntassel was an Indian chief who had lived in the area. the two school buildings named for him were used by the Corntassel congregation from the mid 1800s until their church building was constructed in 1912. The original building was located about one-tenth mile from where the church now stands. The second school was built on property which would later include the church and its cemetery.

Available records indicate that the Corntassel Church was in existence long before it was formally dedicated in 1879 and well before the church was built in 1912. Although small in number the present congregation is made up of faithful youth and adults. Worship service usually finds 21-27 people in attendance each Sunday, typical of Corntassel's effort to be the Body of Christ in the Vonore community.

{Sources: "Knoxville Presbytery:  A Historical Survey of the Sixteen Churches 1833-1989."]