Organized by 1847 as one of the first churches on Sand Mountain, Old Bethel United Primitive Baptist Church erected its first meeting house in 1855, and buildings at the present site were constructed about 1885 and 1927. Its preachers included Samuel Tyler, Levi Isbell, Jacob K. Dowdy, James R. Isbell, James R. Jones, Charles L. Isbell, George D. Drain, Nick Hulgan, Zack Isbell, and Mark Hyde. Between 1862 and 1895, five daughter churches were constituted, including nearby Concord in 1870. The cemetery began in 1876. People associated with the church and cemetery included Sarah (Birdwell) Isbell, among the first white settlers in Madison County in 1805, Ambrose Nall, a sailor in the Union blockade of the Confederacy, and Elijah Isbell and John Bearden, veterans of Union cavalry during the Civil War.