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.