Country Churches: Jefferson, PA

I don't know exactly why this church is boarded up, but it smells like fire.

Canon EOS 50D & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens

Country Churches: Fork United Methodist

From the historical marker: "Oldest Methodist Congregation in Maryland worshipping in its original location. Organized as Fork Meeting by Robert Strawbridge. Land near “The Forks of the Gunpowder” given in 1771 by James Baker, who converted to Methodism under the preaching of Rev. John King. Francis Asbury preached here June 9, 1776." Civil War buffs may note with interest that Ishmael Day is buried there.

Photo: Canon EOS 50D & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens

Country Churches: St. John the Evangelist

"First Roman Catholic Church in (present) Baltimore County founded in 1822. One and one half miles southeast of Sweet Air, one half mile northeast of Manor Road. Building destroyed by fire February 25, 1855. Parish relocated to present site. First Mass offered December 30, 1855." - historical marker*

*Text via The Historical Marker Database

Canon EOS 40D & EF-S 10-22mm lens & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens

Country Churches: Frames Memorial United Methodist

Phoenix, Maryland

Country Churches: Mays Chapel UMC

Baltimore County, Maryland

Photos: Kim Choate, Canon EOS 30D & 40D

Country Churches: Poplar Grove UMC

Poplar Grove church was built in 1893. It's in Phoenix, Maryland.

Canon EOS 40D & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens

Country Churches: Sherwood Episcopal

"Sherwood Episcopal Church is one of 118 parishes in the Diocese of Maryland. This beautiful 1830 gothic-revival style sanctuary overlooks the Western Run Valley and the town of Cockeysville, with which we share a long and rich history. ... Frances Thwaits Deye Taylor offered the community (Rector, Vestry and Congregation) a gift of five acres of land with a chapel to be built there. In return for this gift, Mrs. Taylor requested the chapel be called “Sherwood” after her own estate in Cockeysville, and taken from Sherwood Forest in England." Continued

Canon EOS 40D & EF-S 10-22 lens

Country Churches: Fairview A.M.E.

Forest Hill, Maryland

Canon EOS 40D & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens

Country Churches: Saint James - West Liberty Methodist

Saint James/West Liberty is located near Jarrettsville, Maryland. We covered the original West Liberty, here.

Canon EOS 40D & 30D

Country Churches: St. Paul Methodist

These little wood frame churches were built to last. This one went up in 1887.

Harford County, Maryland

Canon EOS 40D & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens

Country Churches: St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church

Saint Mary's congregation has been around since the 1850's, though the present church was built in 1890. It's located in Pylesville, Maryland on St. Mary’s Road.

Canon EOS 40D & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens

Country Churches: Round Hill Presbyterian

"The first settlers to come to southeastern York County were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians who crossed the Susquehanna River as early as 1736. Having come to America, these hardy immigrants began to gather in private homes or outdoors to hold services. By 1756, the Round Hill congregation was holding Sabbath meetings near a spring at the site of the Old Round Hill Cemetery located between Cross Roads and Felton. Here the first church building, a log structure, was built in 1770." Continued

Cross Roads, Pennsylvania. Canon EOS 30D & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens.

Country Churches: Gorsuch Chapel

Gorsuch Chapel is located in the northwest corner of Baltimore County, Maryland. It was built in 1863 and was a chapel of ease, affiliated with West Liberty Methodist Church. Today it is the Lighted Pathway Independent Baptist Church.

Canon EOS 30D & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens

Country Churches: Wiseburg Methodist

White Hall, Maryland

Canon EOS 30D & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens

Country Churches: Middletown Methodist

Middletown Methodist Church is now the Charity Lodge 134 A.F. & A. M. and Chapter 43 Order of the Eastern Star. I don't know if the original congregation moved or disbanded. The building, built in 1856, is in Freeland, Maryland.

Canon 30D & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens

Country Churches: Gunpowder Baptist

"Eighteen years after Maryland became the seventh state and eight years before the Star Spangled Banner was written, a covenent was signed on August 16, 1806 by twenty-seven men and sixty-three women at the Tipton's Meeting House in Middletown, Maryland, forming the Gunpowder Baptist Church. This formed the first church of the Baptist denomination in northern Baltimore County." Continued

Canon EOS 30D & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens

Country Churches: Mount Zion UME

Back in the 1920's, professor of music Charles Seeger got the notion that the people of rural America were musically deprived, so he made it his mission to take his music to the masses. What he discovered was that the people had their own music, and it was pretty good music too.

I think the same could be said for architecture; the countryside doesn't have massive works of design like the big cities, but it does have its own architecture, mostly found in the rural churches that sit on most any back-road most anywhere in the country, and it's pretty good architecture too.

White Hall, Maryland (vicinity).
Canon EOS 30D & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens

Country Churches: Vernon M.E.

Vernon Methodist Episcopal Church, in White Hall, Maryland was built in 1871 and rebuilt in 1897.

Canon EOS 30D & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens