Located in the rural settlement of East Bethel, Maine the Lower Meeting House is a classic example of a type of meeting house or church that was erected by some rural communities in Maine in the four decades prior to the Civil War. Built as a ?union? church, the building was initially utilized by the town?s Methodist and Baptist church organizations. The relatively plain building exhibits late Federal style massing and ornamentation, and a handsome interior with straight wooden pews, wainscoting, choir loft and pulpit. Erected by 1831, and somewhat remodeled in the decades after the Civil War, this is an example of a type of rural church found throughout Maine featuring a rectilinear footprint, gable front roof and austere classical proportions, but which lacks stylistic pretension. Adjacent to the church, and historically associated with it, is the East Bethel Cemetery, which along with the church, served the surrounding community. The Lower Meeting House was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a locally significant example of a type of church architecture most commonly found in small rural communities in the mid-nineteenth century.