Visitor note: this cemetery is in a remote location with a locked gate and no access. No identifying signs are posted, nor any contact information given.

The first burial in Old Bethel Cemetery was that of Isaac H. Reed, Jr., son of frontier Baptist minister Rev. Isaac H. Reed, Sr.
The elder Reed was a circuit preacher, and established congregations in and around Nacogdoches, Texas, including the famed Old North Church in that city. Having arrived in Texas two years prior to the Republic of Texas declaration of independence, these religious activities were illegal, all settlers in Texas being subjects of Spain, and later Mexico, thus required by law and bound by oath to adopt the Catholic faith.
Reed is often credited as being the first Baptist minister in Texas.

The location of the Old Bethel Cemetery is the original church grounds for the Bethel Baptist Church in what is now Clayton, Panola County, Texas. This location was on the old wagon road stretching into Texas from river ports in Jefferson, Texas, and Shreveport, Louisiana. Early pioneers venturing into East and Southwest Texas hauled with ox teams and wooden skein wagons greased with pine pitch, lumber and other materials over this road as far southwest as San Antonio.

Isaac H. Reed, Jr., was killed in 1837 during an uprising of Cherokee Indians and became the first burial in Old Bethel Cemetery. This was in the first year of the Republic of Texas, and 9 years before Texas was admitted into the United States. At that time, this site was still part of Harrison County, from which Panola County was later created.

Reverend Isaac Reed, Sr., was killed by an Indian in 1848 and was buried on the old church grounds. According to local historian Paul Jauch, Aunt Lizzie Reed, as Reverend Reed's wife was known, related that, "Isaac made camp at Old Bethel and one afternoon when he returned an Indian was in his camp. As he went in the Indian ran out and hid in some bushes from where he shot an arrow through Isaac's breast. Although Isaac shot and killed the Indian, he did not live long after receiving his wound."

As paved highways replaced Indian traces and wagon roads of early Texas, the Bethel Baptist Church relocated to its present location on Texas Highway 315, close to the modern community of Clayton. A new burial ground was established at the new church location, known today as Clayton Cemetery, and the original church burial ground, now known as Old Bethel Cemetery, was abandoned by the congregation.

The original Bethel Baptist church became home of an African-American congregation, and the active portions of the Old Bethel Cemetery are now a burial ground for members of that community. The current Bethel Baptist church is no longer located on the site of the cemetery, having relocated about a half mile away on the approach road leading to the cemetery.

Access to the cemetery is via CR 151, the cemetery itself located on CR 1512 behind the church.

(text by D. Grizzle)