Originally part of a Mexican land grant awarded to Jose de Jesus Grande in 1828, this land was later granted to early settler Henry Rampy, who came to this part of Texas in 1848 and deeded 5 acres in 1859 for a community cemetery and church. The earliest significant settlement of pioneers in the Bethel area came in 1846, and by 1852 the community was thriving enough to establish a post office. The cemetery served mainly residents of the town and settlers from other parts of Anderson and Henderson Counties. Its earliest marked grave is that of M.B. Hodge, dated 1862; her husband, the Rev. Robert Hodge, also buried here, was a pioneer Cumberland Presbyterian minister who was instrumental in founding the Science Hill academy, an important early educational institution in this part of the state. Other early settlers and their descendants are buried here, along with a number of Confederate veterans. After the Civil War, the Bethel community declined and was largely gone by the time its post office was discontinued in 1914, leaving the cemetery as the only significant remnant of the once-thriving Anderson County community.