Dudley's Chapel, Sudlersville

Architecturally, Dudley's Chapel is significant as one of only two 18th century churches remaining in Queen Anne's County. It was built in 1783, and represents a simple yet graceful example of the small, brick parish churches built throughout the Tidewater region during the 18th century. 

Of particular interest are the three recessed brick relieving arches on the front gable, reminiscent and perhaps anticipating the work of the neo-classical movement popularized in the early 19th century. 

This is a very simple and unpretentious building, made even plainer by a series of renovations and repairs undertaken periodically throughout the nineteenth century.

The most significant change to the exterior of the building was the application of a coat of stucco in 1883, covering all of the original brickwork, and also hiding evidence of alterations to the windows and one door.

The interior of the church is a single large room, with the pulpit in the center of the east wall and a gallery at the west end.

A small vestibule for the front door and the stair is partitioned off below the gallery. 

The gallery has been closed off and the stair removed, but sufficient evidence remains to trace the original location in the northwest corner of the building. 

The church is not connected to any power source, and one of my readers told me that they have a candle-light Christmas service each year, which must be magical. The church is heated by two wood stoves.

Link to Medusa.

Dent Church, Charlotte Hall

Although the Dent Chapel on the campus of the former Charlotte Hall School is later than most of the churches I am looking for, it was so unexpected that I am including it.

From Wikipedia: Charlotte Hall, formerly an all-boys military academy in St. Mary's County, was established in 1774 by Queen Charlotte to provide for the liberal and pious education of youth to better fit them for the discharge of their duties for the British Empire. It was fully accredited by the Maryland State Department of Education.

The landed estate of the school embraced 360 acres. The School was non-sectarian and of high moral tone. There were many illustrious graduates, persons of all major professions, clergy and congressmen.

The school closed in 1976, and became the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home. Sadly, only two of the original buildings remain: the 1883 church and 1806 Superintendent's house. 

The Dent Chapel is a small Victorian Gothic church erected in memory of Rev. Hatch Dent, the first principal of Charlotte Hall.

The rough-coursed granite construction with decorative trim and belt courses of molded brick is the best example of this style in Southern Maryland.

Sadly, there is not much more information about the Chapel, and there are no interior images.

Link to Medusa.

St. Francis Xavier, Newtown

I had such high hopes for St. Francis Xavier in St. Mary's County. The pictures made it look so interesting, but the reality was disappointing. 

This small brick church was erected in 1766, or 1731, if you're reading the church's sign. A confessional was added in 1816. Like many of the other early churches I have visited, there are brick additions on either end, with these being completed in 1767. 

Interestingly, the two sections are not symmetrical, although they are similar. The west elevation is the entrance and the east is the altar. In between is a simple wood building with a barrel-vault ceiling. 

Sadly, most of the windows in the church have been replaced with ghastly vinyl windows with fake divided lights. It's pretty shocking that this church was not restored in an architecturally correct manner. 

The interior of the church was open when I arrived and it was quite charming. Another barrel-vaulted ceiling and a triple row of enclosed pews - one on either side and a row down the center. 

Local lore has it that St. Francis is the oldest Catholic church in the English colonies. It seems to be owned by the Archdiocese of Washington, DC.

At some point, the brick on the church was painted white, but it's now back to plain brick. 

Also on the property is the Newtown Manor House.

Jesuit activity begins in St. Mary's in the 1640's and in 1649, they established a smaller church about a half-mile from this one. In 1668, the Jesuits purchased the acreage covering all of Newtown Neck. The combination of St. Francis Xavier Church and the Newtown Manor House properties is an example of a self-contained Jesuit community made self-supporting by the surrounding 700-acre farm. This type of community was prevalent in the eighteenth century. 

The income from the farm supported the Jesuits and their activities. The actual farm work was usually done by tenants and overseers. This tradition has continued to the present day.

Sadly, the house is in horrible shape. Neither of the porches still exist,

and the windows are basically boarded up. You can still see the shadow of an early gambrel roof-line in the brick-work on the house. It was changed to the current configuration with a slight jerkin-head in 1816.

I am glad I made the trip to visit St. Francis, but was sad to see its current condition.

Link to Medusa.

Christ Church IU, Worton

Christ Church IU was not on my original list of churches, but as I was bumping along the delightfully named Lamb's Meadow Road, I spotted a sign for an Episcopal Church, and saw a brick church in the distance. I hastily hung a left and came upon the wonderful little Christ Church IU. 

Now, you're probably wondering what the IU is all about... Apparently, it's for Isaac Usilton who gave the land and the money to build the church. The parishioners refer to it as IU. Just behind the wonderful shutters, you can just see the initials IU in a slightly darker brick. 

And speaking of the shutters, how wonderful are they! For the window on the right, instead of two half-Gothic-shaped shutters, they made one in a regular shape, and one to fit the top of the window.

And for the larger one, an extra shutter at the top of the Gothic ones! It looks a little odd at first, but makes perfect sense.

There is some question as to when the church was built. Medusa says mid-1800's, which would work with the Gothic style, but the church's history dates it 100 years earlier. There was a church in the immediate area at that time, but whether it was this one is the question. 

The interior of the church is very simple with a center aisle and two rows of twelve pews. 

Sadly, the church wasn't open, so I couldn't get better pictures. 

There is a great story associated with the church. The family of the actress, Katherine Hepburn, lived in the area and her grandfather was the minister at IU for 22 years. Miss Hepburn was baptized at St. Luke's in Queen Anne's County (I will get to that church in another post). When she died, Miss Hepburn left the sum of $10,000 to IU. 

It was such fun to stumble across this wonderful little treasure. That's what this project is all about... discovering old churches.

Link to Medusa.

All Faith, Charlotte Hall

Sadly, most of the churches that I have visited have had notices on their doors saying that they are closed for the foreseeable future, due to the Corona Pandemic.*

All Faith Episcopal Church in Mechanicsville/Charlotte Hall was the delight of the day! 

Built between 1766-1769, the church is a one story, brick building with a wood shingle, gable roof. A small vestments room, added on in the mid to late-nineteenth century, is attached to the building's southeast corner.

The church is constructed of brick laid in Flemish bond with a molded brick watertable. Typical of Episcopal churches of the period, the primary elevation is situated on the building's west side. Here, a series of three, symmetrically aligned, compass-headed bays pierce the facade. The bays consist of a centrally located set of paneled French doors flanked on either side by a twelve-over-sixteen, double-hung window. 

Perhaps the most distinctive component of this elevation is a three part Palladian window composed of two smaller six-over-nine double-hung sash that flank a larger eighteen-over-sixteen, single-hung sash. A small fluted keystone highlights the top of the central window's architrave. 

This elevation is further embellished through a pair of cornice returns as well as modillions that lie just under the eaves. The north and south sides of the church reveal an identical rhythm of openings. Symmetrically aligned, the bays consist of a centrally located set of paneled French doors flanked on either side by eighteen-over-sixteen, single-hung sash windows. 

The east gable end is pierced by a circular stained-glass window, although the original compass-headed window opening is discernible in a brick patch in this area.

The window depicts the major crops of the area, including corn, tobacco and tomatoes. 

Sunday had been planned as a work-day for the parishioners to clean the graveyard and property after the winter, but it was canceled. However, two people did show up and one was kind enough to give me a tour of the church's interior - as we maintained our distance! 

Like many of the churches I've seen, this has a barrel-vaulted ceiling, this accentuated with the painted beams. Also, like other churches, the pew set up is similar, a row along each side and a double center row. 

Unlike some of the other churches, these pews didn't have doors. 

What is now the organ loft at the rear of the church was where the slaves came to worship with the plantation owners. 

One interesting thing about this church was that the steeple, which might not have been original, was knocked down during a hurricane, and the congregation chose not to replace it in its original position. Rather, they created a separate structure as a bell-tower. 

There is a spiral staircase in the tower which leads to a below-grade church hall.

The congregation wisely decided not to distract from the church with a more modern hall, as so many other churches have done. 

As we wandered around the graveyard, I caught the name of our family's original property in Southern Maryland - De La Brooke Manor. 

In addition to being the first lord of the Manor, he also imported the first set of hunting hounds to the colony. 

I was delighted to have the chance to visit All Faith, and have a lovely tour. 

Link to Medusa from which much of the description came.

*A few people have chided me for not sheltering-in-place during this uncertain time. My response is that I am in my car, by myself, and visiting very rural churches where no one is around. On my 200+ mile trip on Saturday, I only saw three people. Two at the RoFo and one who was caretaker for a property I visited... but I will tell you about that later.

St. Patrick’s Chapel, Darlington

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I looked for a historic church named in his memory, and came up with St. Patrick's Chapel in Darlington, Cecil County. 

This is not a place that you're going to stumble upon, you really have to hunt for it! You turn off the main road and keep turning onto smaller and smaller roads until you get there. It was so rural that I saw chickens crossing the road!

St. Patrick's Chapel was founded by the Irish settlers who were living on the Susquehanna River and digging the canals and piloting the barges along the river. 

What is important is that at the time, Catholics were not allowed to build churches in Ireland, so the fact that they could build a church in the new country was a huge indication of the religious freedom they found here. 

Sadly, I missed the St. Patrick's service that was held here the Sunday before St. Patrick's day, but someone had thoughtfully put green carnations on many of the graves. 

There is no Medusa listing for this site.