New Salem Baptist Church has a very long history. Just 51 years after the Declaration of Independence it was constituted in 1827. Originally called the Church of Christ at Salem, the word Baptist was not in its name, yet its founding documents declared it to be Baptist. In the 187 years since, the Church has congregated in a number of meeting places. The first was on Hardy Lane, just one mile from our new 34 acre campus off of Hwy 92, near Bicycle road. The original church was built on land donated by Bob and Bera Hardy. In 1854, in a time leading up to the Civil War, that building was donated for use as a school. It is not known where the church met during the civil war period, but in 1866, the year after the civil war ended, its members changed the name of the church to The Baptist Church of Christ at New Salem.