{"nrhp_refnum":"04001239","name":"Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church and Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Cty Rd. 125","address_restricted":false,"city":"Quitman","county":"Brooks County","state":"GA","lat":30.76780493600006,"lon":-83.59845289999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-11-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, gable-front wooden Primitive Baptist church built c. 1861, with an associated cemetery, on County Road 125 in rural Brooks County near Quitman, Georgia.","why_significant":"It is one of the last antebellum buildings in rural Brooks County and an early, intact example of a Primitive Baptist church with the faith's plain character-defining features. It is tied to one of the oldest Primitive Baptist congregations in Georgia, organized in 1834. The nomination also values the cemetery, used for burials from 1935.","narrative":"Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church is a small wood-frame church and cemetery in rural Brooks County, near Quitman, Georgia. Built about 1861, the one-story, gable-front building has cypress weatherboard siding, a metal roof, and twelve-over-twelve windows. Inside is a single plain room with cypress walls and ceiling, pine floors, eighteen pegged pews, and a paneled pulpit called a bookstand. The congregation organized in 1834 and adopted the name Primitive Baptist in 1840. It met in the building until 1965, then again from 1981 to 1984, when it voted to disband. The building was listed for its simple, intact design typical of Primitive Baptist churches and for its link to one of Georgia's oldest congregations. It is one of only 34 Primitive Baptist churches in the state historic resources survey. The cemetery behind the church holds 52 visible graves dating from 1935 to 2003. The county has owned the property since 1995, and the church has been vacant since 1984.","period_of_significance":"c.1861-1965","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"No Style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The church building has been vacant since 1984 and is owned by the Brooks County Board of Commissioners; the proposed use is a local history facility. The cemetery remains a current function.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:43.303491-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/04001239.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04001239/4afc6bea45-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04001239/4afc6bea45-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jud McCranie","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bethlehem_Primitive_Baptist_Church,_Brooks_County,_GA,_US.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jud McCranie</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bethlehem_Primitive_Baptist_Church,_Brooks_County,_GA,_US.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93207123","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem_Primitive_Baptist_Church_and_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16951382"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/brooks-county/bethlehem-primitive-baptist-church-and-cemetery-04001239/"}