Church Bethel

The Handbook of Texas says Isaac Reed, a Baptist minister, came from Tennessee in 1834 with his family, followers and several enslaved people, and in 1835 bought a league of land from Manuel Antonio Romero. He and the minister Lemuel Herrin organized Bethel in 1843, and the Texas Freedom Colonies Project describes it as a church for white settlers and enslaved people. Reed died in 1848. After the Civil War the white members built a new Bethel at Clayton, while the formerly enslaved members continued as Old Bethel, where the East Texas Bethel Association was organized in 1886.

What the plaque says

Church Bethel Church Bethel. Organized on Saturday before the 4th Lord's day in September 1843 by Rev. Isaac Reed, a pioneer Baptist minister in his home two miles northwest. Moved to this spot in 1874. The original minutes of organization are in the possession of this church. Erected by the State of Texas, 1936.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tex Ritter Museum and Texas Country Music Hall of Fame — 9.1 mi
  Carthage's country music museum, with Tex Ritter's boots, guitars and saddles in a room styled like a movie theater, and exhibits on other Texas stars, Jim Reeves among them.
• East Texas Oil Museum — 30 mi
  A Kilgore College museum that rebuilds the 1930s oil boom in a full-scale Boomtown with a general store, drugstore and newspaper office, plus dioramas, films and antiques given by East Texans.

More markers nearby

• Allison Chapel United Methodist Church — 4.4 mi
• Walter Prescott Webb — 4.4 mi
• Ebenezer United Methodist Church — 4.8 mi
• Holland Quarters Cemetery — 5.9 mi