Holston United Methodist Home for Children was founded in 1895 when Mrs. E.E. Wiley, a widow, took in her first homeless child. Since then, from that humble beginning, Holston Home has helped more than 8,000 children.

Holston Home is proudly affiliated with the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church, an area that covers all of East Tennessee, the western-most 17 counties in Virginia, and a little bit of territory in North Georgia. In that area, more than 915 United Methodist Churches make up the Holston Conference.

Holston Home is situated on about 150 acres of gently rolling hillside in Greeneville, Tenn. With about 200 employees in service locations in Greeneville, Johnson City, Knoxville and an office in Chattanooga, Tenn., and a Family Service Center in Bristol, Va., Holston Home is in the ministry of helping children.

Holston Home has achieved EAGLE-recognition status by the United Methodist Church, signifying that this ministry upholds the very highest standards.

What started out as an orphanage -- we have affectionately been referred to as "the orphanage on the hill" for years -- has evolved into a full-service child and family-service ministry.

The goal of Holston Home is to help children and families overcome hardships in their lives. Sometimes, children are unable to live at home, and Holston Home provides housing and care for them.

But the goal is always to return children to their natural home, with their parents. When that is not possible, we work very hard to find an adoption home for those children, and when that is not possible, we match children with appropriate foster parents.

The goal is always to do what is best for the children. Our professional staff works with families to teach them how to be good parents, and we help children overcome any emotional traumas or other hardships they may have experienced.

None of this could have ever happened without the full support and love and prayers of members of the United Methodist churches in the Holston Conference, and friends like you.

This 1923 photo of Wiley Hall shows dozens of children living in a dormitory. That building is no longer standing, and children no longer are housed in a large dormitory.

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