Bethlehem Christian Church

The congregation was meeting by 1866, thirteen named members worshipping in a log cabin and then in a brick building that had stored sugar, near Cedar Lake Creek. Rev. Henry Woodard formally organized Bethlehem Christian Church in spring 1872 and led it for 43 years. Members were baptized in the creek until a brick sanctuary with a baptistry went up in 1951, and a storm in 1900 had nearly destroyed an earlier building. Joel Williams Sr., who lived from 1889 to 1995, served as church secretary for 76 years.

What the plaque says

Bethlehem Christian Church In 1872, the Rev. Henry Woodard established the Bethlehem Christian Church Disciples of Christ. The Rev. Woodard, who served as pastor for 43 years until his death in 1915, conveyed two acres for the church and a cemetery to freedpersons who were the earliest members of the congregation. Members first met at a wood-framed building which also housed Cedar Lake School. The members erected new sanctuaries in 1913, 1951 and 1997. Through the years, the church has served the community as a spiritual, social, educational and financial leader. Today, Bethlehem Christian Church continues to be a focal point of the Cedar Lake community. (2009)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site — 8.6 mi
  A sugar and cotton plantation on the San Bernard River whose enslaved builders and their descendants left one of the best-preserved African American archeological sites in Texas.
• Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site — 20 mi
  A Brazos sugar plantation built by enslaved people for the Patton family, later leased convict labor and Hogg family oil, now told through Rachel Patton and Sarah Ford.
• Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge — 24 mi
  Coastal prairie, salt marsh and bays between Freeport and Christmas Bay, where an auto tour along Big Slough passes wintering geese, ducks and wading birds in the tens of thousands.

More markers nearby

• Cedar Lake Salt Works — 2.1 mi
• St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church — 4.0 mi
• Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church — 6.3 mi
• Confederate Defenses at the Mouth of Caney Creek — 7.3 mi