Bethel Church and Cemetery

The Rev. James Madison McCarty (1802-1869) is the first Primitive Baptist minister known to have served in this area. In 1853 Bethel Primitive Baptist Church of Christ was established as a member of the Union Association organized by Daniel Parker. Church services were held one weekend a month. Members of the congregation participated in holy services of communion and foot washings during conference meetings. Singing for the services was performed in the non-instrumental sacred harp method. The church was the primary religious and social gathering place for the Sandflat community. The oldest documented burial in the Bethel Cemetery is that of the infant child of Daniel and Elizabeth Willingham Cook, who died on August 7, 1855. Among those buried in both marked and unmarked graves in the cemetery are veterans of the Civil War, World War I and World War II. After the railroad was built through the county in 1900, bypassing this area in favor of Frankston to the north, the Sandflat community began to decline. Worship services at Bethel Church ceased in the 1940s. The cemetery remains as a reflection of the area's heritage. (1994)

Bethel Church and Cemetery is a historical marker in Frankston, Anderson County, dedicated in 1994. It is one of 115 historical markers documented in Anderson County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 229 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 31.9786, -95.5242 near Frankston. The nearest cataloged historic site is Bethel-Hardshell Cemetery (cemetery), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Dabbs-Freeman Cemetery, Dabbs-Evanspring Cemetery, and Ayers Cemetery.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5001008738. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.