A Monroe County history book tells us that Salem Methodist Church, in a remote part of Monroe County, was organized in 1826 on two acres of land bought from Hobson Morgan for ten dollars.  The trustees were Gideon Johnston, Thomas Glower, Thomas Melton, William Sharp and Enoch Wallace.  The history states the church had its beginning as a mission, and that the first meeting house was built of logs and replaced in 1860.  The present structure was built around 1909.  The church is no longer active, but it is well maintained by descendants of some of the older members, and there is an annual homecoming in May.

The cemetery is older than the organized church, so the roots of Salem probably predate the 1826 congregation.  The oldest recorded interment in the cemetery is that of John Reuben Morgan, who was born in Virginia in 1784 and died in 1812.  There are probably many other early interments since many of these early 19th-century churchyards contain more unmarked graves than those with headstones.  There are veterans of the Revolutionary War,  War of 1812, and the Civil War resting in the graveyard.  We take special notice of Anderson Redding, born in 1765.  Anderson was a Revolutionary War soldier who was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis after the battle of Yorktown.