Bethany Baptist Church was established in 1902. It started as a log church located off Red Top Mountain Road in what is today Red Top Mountain State Park. In the 1940’s, the building of Allatoona Dam forced the church to relocate from this location to their present location on 42 Old Alabama Road SE, Emerson, GA 30137. There facility on this space was finished in 1953 but has had several additions added to it since completion. Today, Bethany has Sunday School at 10 am and Worship at 11 am every Sunday, and evening Worship at 6 pm on every Sunday but the first. Visit their website online at www.bethanybaptistchurchinchrist.org. Also, check out their location on this interactive map of Bartow County Baptist Church locations: https://goo.gl/maps/9uTux1G4ZvQ2

Though there is no cemetery at Bethany Baptist Church’s current location, there is a cemetery located at the original site that is associated with the church. Bethany Baptist Church Cemetery, or Bethany Cemetery, is located south of Bethany Road in Red Top Mountain State Park. This cemetery was established sometime in the nineteenth century, prior to the establishment of Bethany Baptist Church. There are over two hundred graves in the cemetery, and it had sections for Native Americans, African-Americans, and whites. In 1993, a grave marker was placed on the grave of Young Deer, a Cherokee Indian famous to the area who married a white woman. Despite the church being relocated, church members and their descendants continued the tradition of cleaning and taking care of the cemetery.

Sources

E-zekiel. “About Us.” Bethany Baptist Church. Accessed July 19, 2018. http://www.bethanybaptistchurchinchrist.org/AboutUs.

E-zekiel. “Welcome to the Bethany Baptist Church Website.” Bethany Baptist Church. Accessed July 19, 2018. http://www.bethanybaptistchurchinchrist.org/.

United States. US Army Corps of Engineers. Mobile District. Cultural Resources Survey of Historic Cemeteries, Allatoona Lake, Georgia. By C. S. Butler. Atlanta: Brockington and Associates, 1996. 85-99.

“Written and researched by Amy Young, Kennesaw State University Intern, Fall 2018.