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Bethel

Ghost town · Sumter County, Alabama

Emelle quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1974, 1:24,000)
Emelle quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1974, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Bethel is a ghost town in Sumter County, Alabama. It is one of 3 former communities in Sumter County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 25th among the 53 Alabama counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Bethel as a historical populated place on the Emelle topographic quadrangle: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 32.7299° N, 88.2792° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleEmelle
Elevation268 ft
Nearest living townEmelle, AL
Distance to it2.2 miles
GNIS feature ID134083
Coordinates32.72986, -88.27920

Open the location on a map

Then and now

Drag the slider: the old USGS map on the left, the same ground from the air today on the right. Both cover the same 1.9-mile square centred on the recorded location.

Bethel today, aerial view
Emelle quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1974, 1:24,000)

Left: Emelle quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1974, 1:24,000), U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection. Right: The same ground today: NAIP aerial imagery, USDA Farm Service Agency, National Agriculture Imagery Program (via USGS). Both public domain.

What's there now

Bethel is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Emelle, AL (population 39), about 2.2 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 268 feet above sea level. The aerial view above shows what covers the ground today. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Bethel?

Bethel is in Sumter County, Alabama, at 32.7299, -88.2792.

How many ghost towns are in Sumter County?

Sumter County, Alabama has 3 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-05.