P. T. Barnum Showman, publisher and politician, born in Bethel on July 5, 1810. He ran a weekly newspaper here before leaving for New York in 1834, and the town has claimed him ever since — his birthplace stood on Greenwood Avenue, and the library keeps a collection of his letters, broadsides and circus artifacts. 
Art Young Cartoonist and co-editor of The Masses, who lived much of his life in Bethel until his death in 1943. He drew more than five thousand cartoons for Life, The Nation, Collier's and The New Yorker, and his anti-war work put him on trial twice. Neighbors later founded a gallery in his memory. 
Julius Hawley Seelye Born in Bethel in 1824, Seelye served a term in Congress and went on to become president of Amherst College. The Greenwood Avenue house his relative Seth Seelye built in 1842 still stands, and holds the public library today. 
Allan J. Kellogg Jr. Bethel native and Marine Corps sergeant major awarded the Medal of Honor for smothering a grenade with his body to shield his squad in Vietnam in 1970. He survived, served two more decades in uniform, and is remembered each year at the town's Memorial Day observance. 
Thurston Moore Guitarist, songwriter and founding member of Sonic Youth, who grew up in Bethel and was playing around the Danbury area before moving to New York in the late 1970s. 
Noël Regney Songwriter and longtime Bethel resident, best known for writing the lyrics to "Do You Hear What I Hear?" with his wife Gloria Shayne in 1962 — a carol drafted as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis. 
Meg Ryan Actress, producer and director who grew up in Bethel and graduated from Bethel High School before studying journalism and turning to film. 
Bethel Public Library Founded in 1909 on a bequest from Maria Parloa and moved in 1914 into the 1842 Seth Seelye House, where it has stayed ever since. Beyond the usual lending, it holds the P. T. Barnum Collection — correspondence, rare broadsides, photographs and artifacts tied to General Tom Thumb, Jenny Lind and Commodore Nutt. 
P. T. Barnum Statue A six-foot bronze of the showman standing outside the public library, sculpted by local artist Dave Gesualdi and dedicated by the Bethel Historical Society on September 26, 2010. The most photographed spot on Greenwood Avenue. 
Bethel Historical Society Keeper of the town's archives, photographs and Barnum-era ephemera, based in the 1842 Second Meeting House on Main Street — a building that has served as church, town hall, jail, post office and barber shop, and now hosts the Art Young Gallery and VFW Post 935. 
Greenwood Avenue Historic District The historic commercial village, running from P. T. Barnum Square down to Depot Place. Mid-19th to early-20th century storefronts and houses, still the spine of downtown and the route for the parade, sidewalk sales and holiday stroll. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. 
Greenwood Features The four-screen movie house at 269 Greenwood Avenue, opened in 1973 and known for most of its run as Bethel Cinema. Dark since 2020, it was reopened by a local couple in 2022, and new releases now share the schedule with classics and independent features. 
Bethel Station The Metro-North stop on the Danbury Branch, a short walk from the shops on Greenwood Avenue and the reason the village grew where it did, ever since the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad came through in 1852. Still the way most visitors arrive from the city.