Address: Concession 1, Lot 5, Nelson Township

History:  Bethel chapel was one of the original Wesleyan New Connexion Methodist Churches.  It was erected in 1853, but regular weekly services were discontinued just 20 years later when the union of all the then-existing Methodist bodies favoured the churches on the Lowville and Carlisle circuits.  The simple, white frame structure stands on a farm owned by Harvey Prudham whose great-grandfather, John, settled here in 1844 and who provided the land in 1853 for the church and cemetery.  The 150 year old deed remains a treasured possession of the Prudham family.  It would seem that John Prudham obtained his land from Murray Killman, as the Land Registry Office shows him as Crown Patentee registering all 200 acres of Lot 1, Concession 5, on 14 February 1809.

The timbers for the church were provided by William Bousfield who also split the shingles at his mill in Tally Ho.  Inside the chapel are to be seen the original old wood stove, the original pulpit with its hinged doors on both sides, and the original seats which at one time had been taken to the Kilbride Community Hall, itself an old church, but now have been returned to their rightful place.

This cemetery has always been known as the Canadian Wesleyan New Connexion Methodist Cemetery.  It is a church cemetery of the Methodist faith.  The earliest interment recorded on a monument is that of Jonithan Dawson, 1764- Aug.14,1845, who emigrated to Canada in 1816 from Newcastle-on-Tyne.  The cemetery has approximately 73 visible graves and is still in use today.  A further ½ acre of land has been donated which will enable 365 plots to become available.

"Bethel Chapel & Methodist Church Cemetery." Ontario Genealogical Society, Halton-Peel Region. Ontario Genealogical Society, www.haltonpeel.ogs.on.ca/h/ne15.htm