Bethlehem Baptist (Harris County, Ga.)

The original records of Bethlehem Baptist in rural Heard County were burned in 1906 but the church has been able to capture at least some of the early church history. The history tells us the church was organized in 1828, making Bethlehem one of the earliest churches in Harris County, which had been carved out of Muscogee and Troup Counties in 1827. The land had been part of the Second Treaty of Indian Springs that had ceded most of the remaining Creek land left in Georgia in 1825. The church history records that the first structure was built in 1833 on two acres of land purchased from Hampton Stephens for the sum of five dollars. The church thrived and association records show that in 1848 the church has 120 members in good standing, 87 white and 33 African American. Further donations of land were made in 1850 by J. T. Ewel Borders and William S. Booth. The church has seen many improvements over the years but the original 1833 structure of the church are still intact. There are 146 interments in the cemetery across the street from the church, with the oldest dated 1851.