Old Bethany Baptist Church Historic Marker

I drove through Burnt Corn this morning on my way home and spotted another Old Federal Road historic marker, this time, along Monroe County Road 5 in front of the Old Bethany Baptist Church.
Some of you may remember my April 12 post in which I described one of the Old Federal Road marker near Coley Chapel Church in Goodway.
Here’s what the marker at Burnt Corn says:
“Old Federal Road
“Burnt Corn, Monroe County’s earliest settlement, became the crossroads of the Great Pensacola Trading Path and the Federal Road. Settler Jim Cornells returned from Pensacola in 1813, finding his home destroyed and his wife kidnapped by a Creek Indian war party. As the Creeks returned from procuring arms in Pensacola, Cornells and volunteers ambushed the Indians. Thus began the Creek Indian War of 1813-1814.
“Erected in 1998 by Monroe County Heritage Museum and the J.L. Bedsole Foundation.”
An interesting side note about Cornells is that, according to B.F. Riley’s “History of Conecuh County,” he was a Creek Indian himself and fought on the side of the U.S. during the Creek Indian War. (And, although the exact location is still debated to this day, it’s generally accepted that the “Battle of Burnt Corn” did not actually occur at Burnt Corn, but at a spot on Burnt Corn Creek in present-day Escambia County.)
As many of you will remember from you history lessons, the Old Federal Road dates back to 1805 when the relatively young U.S. federal government established a “road” from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans. I say “road” because in the beginning it was not much more than a horse trail. A portion of this old road now follows the Monroe-Conecuh county line.
As mentioned earlier, the marker in Burnt Corn sits just off the highway in front of the cemetery at the Old Bethany Baptist Church, which was established in 1821 and is now owned by the Monroe County Heritage Museums. A number of years ago, this church was also placed on the Alabama Register of Historic Places.
I got an inside look at this church in the fall of 2005 during a trip there that was part of the Monroe County Leadership Now! history tour. If you ever get the chance to visit this church, take it, because it’s worth seeing.