Old Bethel Baptist Church began as Bethel Missionary Baptist Church on June 26, 1819, with Elder Theophilous Skinner as pastor, nearly six months before the creation of the state of Alabama. Its original location was across County Line Road in neighboring Lawrence County on land donated by the Kerby family, and a boundary change in 1895 placed it in Colbert County. For many years preaching was held only once a month, while annual daylong sings and revivals drew large crowds to this site. The church was a charter member of the Muscle Shoals Baptist Association, later joined the Big Bear Creek Association, and eventually became independent. In the 1930s the congregation adopted the name Old Bethel Baptist Church. Five church buildings have stood on or near this site during its long history, with the most recent erected in 1930. It survived devastating tornados in 1920 and 1942 with only minor damage, though the nearby parsonage was destroyed. The church owns and manages the antebellum-era Bethel Cemetery, is the oldest church in Colbert County, and marked its 200th anniversary on June 20, 2019.