The John Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church is the only remaining building from the first decades of West Warm Springs, a community settled by African Americans who came to Bath County after the Civil War seeking employment in the area’s springs resorts and related industries. The church was the first religious building for blacks in the community. It became a recreational and religious hub and part of the broader community development patterns former slaves created in the wake of Emancipation and Reconstruction. Today it is the only remaining log building in the community and the only surviving example of a Bath County religious institution constructed by, and once serving, emancipated African Americans. A small cemetery is located on an adjacent parcel west of the John Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church.