You may have trouble finding Old Bethel Church. It is nestled away on a Clarke County back road, and there are no longer any markers showing the way to go.

     If you find it though, it will be well worth your trouble. You'll find the stately old brick church, standing stiffly in the edge of the oak-shaded church yard. It is about 3 miles from Millwood.

     The grass in the yard is kept clipped and the old gravestones are still in place. You'll find stones bearing the names of the early founders of Bethel Church--Davis, Sowers and Graves.

     Old Bethel is no longer an active church, but a memorial to all those who once worshipped there. The church is controlled by a board of trustees, and one service each year must be held there. And it is gradually being restored to it's original condition.

     Nobody is sure just when Bethel first became a place of worship. There was a log church there in 1765, when it was known as "God's Acre on the Hill", and was generally referred to as "The Meeting House".

     That leads many to believe that the first church was a Quaker meeting house, which later served as a community place of worship.

     It is known that the first log church burned in 1790, and was replaced by a second log structure, which was sold in 1828, when the present brick church was started. The Old Bethel church was dedicated two years later.

     By this time Old Bethel had become a Baptist church. Permission had been granted by Buck Marsh Baptist Church, the first Baptist church west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, to establish the church near Millwood. Buck Marsh was located near Berryville, and among those named as the first leaders were William Davis, James Sowers and his wife, Elizabeth, and John Graves. The church was to be named Bethel, which means "house of God."

     For 100 years, almost to the day, Old Bethel was a thriving church. But gradually it's congregation thinned out, and in 1930 there was an alternation in the church that spelled it's doom.

     B.B. McKay (ed. note: Beverly Brownley McKay), treasurer of Old Bethel's board of trustees and a lifelong member of the church, said the trouble started "over a discussion as to whether the devil was in the congregation or in the pulpit."

     The church records are brief, but to the point. It seems that the pastor, the Rev. John B. Williams, decided to move a section of the pews and to place the stoves near the wall.

     This was done without consulting church members, who immediately replaced the pews and stoves.

     This action brought on a sermon in which Mr. Williams wondered if maybe the devil wasn't at work in the congregation.

     That was almost the end. There was another minister, but by 1930 it was evident that Old Bethel was through, and the church finally abandoned.

     "You know," Mr. McKay said, "when most churches are abandoned the property reverts to the central church authority." But with the Baptists, the church belongs to the congregation. So we found we had no deed to Old Bethel."

     "If we were to establish Old Bethel as a memorial, we had to have a deed, so I started searching the records."

     "Old Bethel is older than Clarke County, so I first went to Winchester in Frederick County. When I couldn't find any record of Old Bethel there, I went on to Orange County."

     "There I found a reference to the church property in a deed from King Carter, and from this we re-established ownership of the church."

     "The Clarke County Circuit Court recognized a new board of church trustees, and then authorized the establishment of a self-perpetuating board of trustees for the Old Bethel Memorial."

     "We've done a lot of work on the old church rebuilt the roof and put in new floors--but there is still a lot to be done. We get contributions from a lot of people who have interests or family connections with Old Bethel."

     Old Bethel trustees are headed by Alex Mackay-Smith and include, in addition to Mr. McKay, Mrs. Phyllis C. Hawkins, clerk; Thomas B. Byrd, and Haslep Revells.