Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church

Front inscription

This African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) congregation organized in 1879. In that year, founding trustees Carter Murray and Peter Kelty, said to have been Bethel’s first two pastors, acquired a 1-acre parcel at this site. Tradition holds that members met under a tent before building a wood frame church.

Reverse inscription

Bethel was originally part of the A.M.E. church’s Gourdine Circuit. The first wood church was eventually replaced by the current building, which was later expanded and brick-veneered. For many years, Bethel housed a Black public school on-site until Williamsburg Co. consolidated its country schools in the 1950s.