Bethel Methodist Church, Attala County, MS

Right : Bethel Methodist Church, near Hesterville, in Attala County, Mississippi



Below: Bethel Cemetery, where over 300 residents and former residents are buried.

Bethel Methodist Church, an independent Methodist church, is a beautiful architectural example of small rural churches built in parts of Mississippi that were settled during the 1800's. The church was organized around 1840, although the current structure was built after the Civil War. The church and its cemetery are located about seven miles north of Kosciusko, Mississippi, off Highway 35 North, near the community known as Hesterville.

This old cemetery is the resting place for over three hundred residents or former residents of Attala County and the surrounding area, some of them original pioneers who came to the area after the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was signed with the Choctaw Indians. A number of the graves are now over 100 years old.

Among the names of those buried in Bethel Methodist Church's cemetery are Conner, Covington, Duncan, Giles, Gober, Holland, Hudson, Hull, Jamison, Jenkins, McAdory, McAfee, McCool, McElroy, Murff, Sanders, Stephens, Strahan, Sweatt, Tarver, Williams, Weatherly, and Young.

If your family is one of those listed here, and you would like to share pictures and stories of your loved ones who are buried in the Bethel Cemetery, please contact me at

www.attalacountymemories@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.