-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Newspaper: Community of Bethlehem, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana
Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2002 16:28:18 -0600
From: "Laura Bonde" <lbonde(a)bluemarble.net>
Reply-To: <lbonde(a)bluemarble.net>
Organization: Laura Bonde
To: <LADATA-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Newspaper: The Community of Bethlehem, Louisiana
Claiborne Parish, Lousiana
Submitted by Laura Bonde <mailto:lbonde@bluemarble.net>
lbonde(a)bluemarble.net
There is no indication on the clipping of the date or paper in which
this originally appeared.
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The December sky in North Louisiana is the clearest, the brightest,
the bluest of blues. The air is brisk during the day and crisp at
night. The leaves have turned and most are already forming blankets
of browns, cast into nature's infinite designs along fencerows and
in the lush thickness of the rolling forest lands.
The greens of the pines from striking contrast against these
patterns and the sky and the wind whispers its way through the hills
and the barren farm land, sometimes with reckless abandon and at
other times with the peacefulness of a welcomed winter night.
The scene is Bethlehem. It's not the scene most know about. In
fact, few people remember. But it is worth remembering, especially
for Louisianans with a rich and treasured heritage, and for
those who strive constantly to preserve this heritage.
Bethlehem, La. in Claiborne Parish has almost disappeared. What
used to be a settlement of some 400 pioneers who moved there from
the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee is now no more than a
church and a cemetery.
A few housed are scattered about, but not within sight of the church.
Located north of the Minden-Homer Highway and south of the
Germantown Road, this setting is a reminder of another time, a time
when children laughed and played, farmers came in to the general
store and people gathered on Sunday morning to worship and have
occasional dinners on the grounds.
Bethlehem Church is a neat, freshly painted structure facing
out across the road toward the cemetery. The grounds are immaculate.
The grass is dormant but awaits the spring rains and the warmth of
another growing season.
This rural church was at one time both a school and a church. The
400 residents were not clustered around the church but scattered
throughout the area and serviced by a post office established on
Oct. 30, 1891, long after many of the residents settled the area.
The land for the church and cemetery was donated by James CURRY after
the Civil War. The first structure, a rude, one-room log hut was the
beginning of the structure that now houses a Methodist congregation.
In the beginning , and being a union church, any denomination that
wanted to worship there could do so.
David WADE, with help from Joe MADDRY, Jim MILLER, and others
erected the first structure and it became the center of life in
Bethlehem.
The names of preachers and settlers are emblazoned on the pages
of silent history-HOLLENSHEAD, MADDRY, HARRIS, WADE, CURRY,
WINGFIELD, JACKSON, WARWICK, HARP, STONECIPER, COX, LOWDERMILK,
OWENS, SHERMAN, NESBIT, AND MORELAND.