Bethel Bridge, Church and Cemetery

Bethel Bridge, Church and Cemetery

The pivot bridge at Bethel, with tender, James Watson - circa 1917

Archway entrance to Bethel Cemetery, erected in 1906

Moving graves in the sixties

        I remember the Bethel church very well. I recall hearing that the Chesapeake City Little League had a function there in the fifties. The church was razed after the canal was widened and deepened in the sixties. Many of the church artifacts (communion glasses, lectern, documents, etc.) are stored in Barratt’s Chapel, located south of Dover on Rt.113. (http://www.barrattschapel.org/)

        My grandmother was married in the Bethel church in 1908. She and her husband, Harper, had their reception in the big white house on Biddle Street. The revelry was exciting, because so many were dancing in the living room that the floor collapsed, which made continued dancing awkward and comical. It’s the mistake of my life that I was not there to see it. My father was born ten months later. The family lived on Third Street on Chesapeake City’s South Side.

          Most of my ancient relatives abide in the cemetery there in their narrow rooms. Someday I have plans of retiring there, also. When the canal was widened in the sixties, many inmates were dug up and moved, but it could be that some were missed and may still be languishing at the bottom of that waterway. Let’s hope that no more widened will occur, because I certainly don’t want my bones jostled once I settle in. I’ll surely look forward, along with all the other residents, to yearly midnights on October 31^st. At the stroke of twelve we’ll all be granted a field trip in order to blow off the stink by dancing and frolicking until the first cock’s crow, at which time we’ll reluctantly return to convalesce until the same happy time the following year.