[6] The church opened an adjacent camp ground that was used between 1851 and 1894 which was used as a troop mobilization center during the American Civil War.

[5][7] A Christian revival meeting was taking place on August 31, 1886, when shockwaves from the 1886 Charleston earthquake were felt at an estimated MMI intensity of 6.

[5] The area was informally established as the community of Bethlehem in December 1883[7] as a stop along the Belmont – Monroe line[10] of the Gainesville, Jefferson and Southern Railroad.

[11] The church itself was named after the ancient town of Bethlehem, identified in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke as the birthplace of Jesus.

[5] In 1986 a 13-year-old Bethlehem Elementary School student made national headlines[14][15] when he stabbed his principal Murray Kennedy to death with a nail file.

[17] The case drew the attention of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference who helped contribute to the student's defense fund.

[21] After being charged as an adult,[22] the student was sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

[30] Bethlehem receives rainfall distributed evenly throughout the year as typical of southeastern U.S. cities, with March on average having the highest average precipitation at 5.12 inches (130 mm), and May typically being the driest month with 3.17 inches (81 mm).

[35] According to the U.S. Census's American Community Survey 2020 5-year estimate, 57.3% of Bethlehem's population that are 16 years or older are in the labor force.

[38] Traveling to Bethlehem to send holiday mail is a holiday tradition for visitors of the town and the Bethlehem post office sends hundreds of thousands of pieces of mail during each Christmas season.

[37][39] The post office also has hand-stamps that customers can use to stamp "Christmas Greetings from Bethlehem" on their letters and cards before being sent.

[40] The tradition began in 1967, when the United States Postal Service debuted a special Christmas stamp at the Bethlehem post office with a ceremony that included then-governor of Georgia Lester Maddox and Assistant U.S. Postmaster General Richard J.

[28]: 4–2  The nearby Kilgore Mill Covered Bridge and Mill Site (also known as Bethlehem Bridge[47]) was built in 1874[5] and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and crosses over the Apalachee River, which serves as the boundary between Barrow and Walton counties.

[13] This government style was reaffirmed by an act passed during a 2004 session of the Georgia General Assembly, which added a town clerk to the council.

[53] In the United States House of Representatives, Bethlehem is part of Georgia's 10th congressional district.

[59] Snodon Preparatory School was located in Bethlehem until its closure in 2019, and served students from grades 9–12.

[63] As part of the North Georgia area, Bethlehem's primary network-affiliated television stations are WXIA-TV (NBC), WANF (CBS), WSB-TV (ABC), and WAGA-TV (Fox).

[78] Bethlehem contracts directly with a private trash hauling company to handle disposal of solid waste as a free service to residents.

[80] Piedmont Walton is located in Monroe 10.5 miles (16.9 km) south of downtown Bethlehem.

[81] In May 2022 the Barrow County Planning Commission approved the construction of a new Northeast Georgia Medical Center facility in Bethlehem.