Original Site of Bethel Baptist Church

Bethel Baptist was organized in 1851 and dissolved in 1866, according to a local news history of the Wheat family; the Handbook of Texas also calls it the area's first Baptist church. Among its members in 1859 were Nancy Tolar Shivers and her daughter Mary Elizabeth, a teacher who was one of four women listed as teachers in the county that year. Woodville First Baptist Church was organized in 1887 under the Rev. Jeff Rhodes, who pastored it for thirty-one years. The bell from the old building is now mounted at the First Baptist entrance.

What the plaque says

Original Site of Bethel Baptist Church First church in county. Organized by Thomas Rock, Milton McQueen, Mrs. Mary Parsons. First pastor was the Rev. J.B. Masterson. Courthouse was used for worship until church was built 1852. Last of old structure was dismantled in 1957. The original bell is now mounted here.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Martin Dies, Jr. State Park — 13 mi
  A 705-acre state park on Steinhagen Reservoir at the meeting of the Neches and Angelina rivers, with about 14 miles of paddling trails through sloughs and more than 200 campsites.
• Big Thicket National Preserve — 22 mi
  Start at the Kountze visitor center, where rangers sort the preserve's scattered units for you, and learn why Congress made this 1974 string of pearls the country's first national preserve.

More markers nearby

• Home of James Edward Wheat — steps away
• Lt. Col. Philip A. Work — steps away
• Tyler County — steps away
• Texas Statesman Allan Shivers — 0.2 mi