Built in the 1810s under the leadership of one of Ohio's earliest Methodist preachers, it has survived the death of its congregation, and it remains in use for community activities.

[3] Collins started Methodist classes throughout much of southern Ohio, including Bantam, Chillicothe, Dayton, Hillsboro, and Lebanon.

[2] The congregation closed in 1968: when the Corps of Engineers bought large amounts of land to create East Fork State Park, all area residents were forced out, and no members remained to continue worshiping at Bethel.

Surrounding the building is the church graveyard;[5] among its hundreds of burials are dozens of unknown soldiers and the grandparents of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, a Clermont County native.

[4] In 1978, the former Bethel Methodist Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, qualifying both because of its architecture and because of its connection to John Collins.