BCPL History and Genealogy - Perry Hall - Perry Hall and the Methodist Church: 1784-1850.
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Perry Hall and the Methodist Church: 1784-1850
by David Marks
Historian, Perry Hall Improvement Association

Perry Hall's roots are intertwined with those of the American Methodist Church. Since 1766, our community has been known as "the cradle of Methodism," a place of holy significance for Methodists throughout the United States. It was here that the Methodist Church of America was formally organized in 1784, when Christian leaders met at Perry Hall Mansion to design a new nationwide religion.

Perry Hall's Methodist history, however, really began in 1766, when a fiery minister named Robert Strawbridge passed through the village on his way to Towson. Strawbridge was traveling on the old Indian trail now called Joppa Road, probably on his way to visit his good friend Charles Ridgely, later a Maryland governor. Strawbridge found a collection of log cabins and sod houses dotting the dense wilderness between Belair and Philadelphia Roads. Wood cutters and charcoal burners worked here, supplying fuel for the iron and gunpowder furnaces east of Baltimore. Strawbridge set out to convert the tiny wilderness village, holding a camp meeting near present-day Joppa Road and Cowenton Avenues, where good spring water was available. This was the first religious gathering on record in Perry Hall, and it is where Camp Chapel United Methodist Church would later be built in 1813.

Before there was an organized Methodist church in America, camp meetings were being held in Perry Hall and other Maryland communities converted by Strawbridge. Methodists continued to congregate at the original meeting site at Cowenton Avenue and Joppa Road. Years later, "Camp Meeting Chapel" by its parishioners. We now know this as "Camp Chapel," a country church which has served Perry Hall since 1813.

Originally, after Ridgely first donated the land, parishioners tried to raise enough money to finance the construction themselves. This was a poor community, however, and the wealthiest citizen of Perry Hall, Harry Dorsey Gough, offered to pay for the building himself. Gough, Charles Ridgely's brother-in-law, was a convert to Methodism, and he insisted that his poorer neighbors instead use their money to build a community school. Thus, the "Camp Meeting Chapel" was born, the product of true Christian labor, goodwill, and faith.

Harry Dorsey Gough was one of the earliest leaders of the American Methodist movement. Gough built a small chapel adjacent to his home, Perry Hall Mansion, so that he could hold services for as many as fifty friends and relatives. A frequent preacher at Perry Hall Mansion was Francis Asbury, Harry Dorsey Gough, and other leaders gathered in 1784 to formally organize the American Methodist Church. Asbury, who was ordained the first American Methodist bishop at this conference, later credited the Perry Hall Mansion meeting house as the birthplace for the young religion in America.

Although the chapel at Perry Hall Mansion no longer stands, Camp Chapel Church is still a thriving part of Perry Hall's religious community. A new chapel was built in 1872, and it was used continuously until 1965, when a large brick sanctuary was constructed adjacent to the building. In 1983, the chapel was struck by lightning, burning to the ground. When neighbors approached the fire, they discovered an eerie sight: the flames conspicuously avoided the painting of Jesus Christ in the sanctuary. The painting was relatively untouched, and the Bible survived with minor water and fire damage, even as the rest of the structure burned to the ground.

The chapel was rebuilt, and the steps leading into the building are the original ones brought from England over 180 years ago. The chapel is used for special Sunday and holiday services.

Camp Chapel is not alone. Perry Hall Methodist Church was formally organized in 1866. The original building was on Belair Road at the present-day Folz service station, and the church cemetery still rests behind the garage. Perry Hall Methodist Church has since relocated to a beautiful sanctuary near Klausmeier Road. This church gives northern Belair road its distinctive, residents also attend Asbury United Methodist Church in Cowenton, which is named after Francis Asbury, a Perry Hall visitor of generations past.

This page is provided by the Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, Maryland USA.
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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