New Bethel Church Cemetery

New Bethel A.M.E. Church Cemetery (also known as Bethel A.M.E. Church Cemetery) is located on Bethel Church Road in rural Eatonton, Putnam County, Georgia. It serves the historic New Bethel A.M.E. Church, originally known simply as Bethel, a longstanding Black congregation. The cemetery’s age is estimated from its earliest marked burials in 1909, including Rubin Bailey, Sr. (1875–1909) and Washington Bailey (1819–1909), indicating the church and community were established in the late 19th or early 20th century. The Bailey family is prominently represented and likely among the founding members.

The cemetery features many vernacular and folk-style headstones typical of early rural African American burial grounds, including a notable headstone carved by Atlanta folk artist Eldren Bailey and at least one unidentified grave marked with a large clay pipe. It remains an active burial ground today. The cemetery, church, and the former Bethel Elementary School (the historic African American school) were all part of the same tight-knit rural Bethel community, forming the historic core institutions that served local Black families for generations.