Bethel Chapel School Cemetery

The Florence School House, in Putnam County, originally stood on land owned by Mrs. F. S. Marshall. On March 10, 1945, Mrs. Marshall deeded the school building to the Putnam County Board of Education. The school, renamed Bethel Chapel School, served Black/African American children in grades K–5 during the era of segregated education. Former students, including Sidney Burke and Janie Burke Andrews, recall its role as a center of learning and community life. The land surrounding the school became a burial ground for Black families, including the Burke and Dennis families. The surviving school building and cemetery together represent a rare intact African American cultural landscape in rural Georgia.