BCPL History and Genealogy - Perry Hall - Churches and Cemeteries in Perry Hall.
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Churches and Cemeteries in Perry Hall
by David Marks
Historian, Perry Hall Improvement Association

Perry Hall's religious ancestry is Methodist. It was at Perry Hall Mansion that plans for the Methodist Church of America were developed by Francis Asbury, Harry Dorsey Gough, and a handful of early Methodist leaders. These pioneers helped start Camp Chapel Church, which provided religious instruction for the woodcutter families near the Gunpowder River. Camp Chapel was followed by Perry Hall United Methodist Church in 1866.

Methodism was the defining religion in Perry Hall until about 1850, when dozens of German and Irish families settled northeastern Baltimore County. These immigrants brought with them the older religions of Europe, mainly Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism. Between 1850 and 1870, three new churches were built in Perry Hall.

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church began in 1850. First services were held in the Krastel farmhouse near Fullerton. The Krastel family donated a tract of land for the church near their home on Buck's Schoolhouse Road. When this became too small, the growing parish bought fourteen acres on Belair Road for a permanent site, paying only $200 for a tract of land on Perry Hall's western border. The church was finished in 1870. It was used continuously until 1971, when the current building was completed. Bells from the original parish are displayed in back of the main hall.

German immigrants adopted a charter for their new Lutheran parish on March 7th, 1859. They called their congregation Germantown Lutheran Church, although we now know it as the St. Michael's Lutheran Church. The original constitution is still in the church records. Three years later, a stone church was built on an acre of land donated by Michael Groeller. The present sanctuary, built in 1966, is the third building to occupy the grounds.

Perry Hall Presbyterian Church, organized in 1856, was an outreach effort for Hamilton Presbyterian Church in northeast Baltimore. Parishioners gathered in the living room of the Manse on Belair Road. By Easter Sunday, 1957, a three-car garage next to the Manse had been renovated into Fellowship Hall. This was used for services until 1966, when the present sanctuary was dedicated.

Perry Hall's first Baptist congregation was organized in 1957, when Overlea Baptist Church "seeded" a new parish in northern Perry Hall. Ground was broken in 1960 for Perry Hall Baptist Church. The congregation is now completely independent of Overlea Baptist Church, and it is the sponsor of the Perry Hall Christian School.

These are Perry Hall's largest organized churches. They weave a rich religious tapestry for the citizens of Perry Hall. Local churches are united under the Perry Hall Ministerium, an umbrella group advancing a greater role for religion in the life of the community.

Perry Hall has other holy places. There are about half a dozen cemeteries scattered throughout Perry Hall, and those are the ones we know about: many of our earliest settlers left no headstones or burial markers.

There are two small cemeteries off Ferguson Road. One of these is the Chambers family burial ground, where one of the original trustees of Camp Chapel Church, Daniel Chambers, is buried. Another is Rocky Rest, the burial ground for the Spamer family, which has been well maintained by members of the family for several decades. This is located near Hickory Falls Way, on top of one of the highest hills in Perry Hall.

Another cemetery is on the grounds of Perry Hall High School. Jacob Seddon deeded an acre of land in 1850 for a cemetery, and the site was eventually sold to Baltimore County's Board of Education for the community's new high school. The cemetery no longer has any headstones, and it is located immediately behind the tennis courts and main parking lot of the school.

One of the few public cemeteries in Perry Hall is behind Folz's service station on Belair Road. It was here that Perry Hall United Methodist Church stood until 1960. Although the sanctuary has since moved, the original cemetery remains.

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The text version of this page was last revised on 26 August 2008.
The graphics version of this page was last revised on 26 August 2008.
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