The Bethesda Meeting House is a historic

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

complex in Bethesda, Montgomery County,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, US. Its name became the namesake of the entire surrounding community in the 1870s. It sits on

Maryland Route 355 Maryland Route 355 (MD 355) is a north–south road in western central Maryland in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is in Bethesda, Maryland, Bethesda in Montgomery County, Maryland, Montgomery County, where ...

(known as

Rockville Pike Rockville may refer to: Places Australia * Rockville, Queensland, a suburb in the city of Toowoomba Canada * Rockville, Nova Scotia * Rockville, Ontario, a community in Northeastern Ontario Iceland * Rockville Air Station, a former Un ...

at this point) just inside the

Capital Beltway The Capital Beltway, designated as Interstate 495 (I-495) for its entire length, is an List of auxiliary Interstate Highways, auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Washington metropolitan area. The Ring road, beltway encircles Washington, D.C., ...

. It has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

since 1977.

Description

The Bethesda Meeting House property includes the 1850

meeting house A meeting house (also spelled meetinghouse or meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes private meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a: * chu ...

itself, the mid-late 19th-century

parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, pa ...

to the south, and the associated

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

. The church is a large, wood-frame structure built in the

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

"temple" form, albeit with Gothic-style windows. To the south of the church is a two-story frame

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

parsonage built on a

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

plan, with some Queen Anne-style embellishments.

History

The church was built on the foundation of an 1820 Presbyterian church that burned down in 1849. Opened in 1850, it served as the Bethesda Presbyterian Church until 1925, when the congregation erected a new church on Wilson Lane, farther south in Bethesda. When the church moved to its new location in 1925, the trustees sold the building and of land to Mrs. May Fitch Kelley. The Presbyterian congregation, however, retained ownership of the cemetery. Mrs. Kelley lived in the church building for many years. In 1945, the property was sold to a French Algerian

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

group called the Missionaries of Africa, commonly known as the

White Fathers The White Fathers (), officially known as the Missionaries of Africa (), and abbreviated MAfr, are a Roman Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right (for men). They were founded in 1868 by Charles-Martial Allemand-Lavigerie, who w ...

. In the 1950s, the property was transferred again, this time to the trustees of the Temple Hill

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Church.

Legacy

In the 1860s, the church's pastor, Rev. Edward Henry Cumpston, began lobbying the local postmaster, Robert Franck, to rename his post office from "Darcy's Store". Franck did so in 1871, and the surrounding community took the name as well.

References

Citations

Other sources

* ''The Spirit of Captain John'', by Eugene and Edythe Clark, Carlton Press, New York, NY, 1970 * ''Old Bethesda by Dorce Germaine Holman and Not So Old'', by Gertrude D. Bradley, Franklin Press, Gaithersburg, MD, 1956 * ''Bethesda: A Social History'', by William M Offutt, The Innovation Game, Bethesda, MD, 1995

External links

*, including photo in 1974, at Maryland Historical Trust website
Bethesda Meeting House
history of Bethesda Meeting House at allBethesda.com
Bethesda Presbyterian Church
{{National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Churches completed in 1850 Greek Revival church buildings in Maryland Queen Anne architecture in Maryland Buildings and structures in Bethesda, Maryland Churches in Montgomery County, Maryland Presbyterian churches in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Maryland