Christ Church (Ironsides, Maryland)

Last updated March 20, 2019

Christ Church (also known as Old Durham Church) is one of the oldest (1732) surviving Episcopal church buildings in the U.S. state of Maryland. Christ Church is located in the village of Ironsides within the town of Nanjemoy. Old Trinity Church, Church Creek, Dorchester County, dates to c. 1675 and is thus older.

The Episcopal Church (TEC) is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion based in the United States with dioceses elsewhere. It is a mainline Christian denomination divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is Michael Bruce Curry, the first African-American bishop to serve in that position.

Maryland is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east. The state's largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State. It is named after the English queen Henrietta Maria, known in England as Queen Mary.

Ironsides is an unincorporated community or "post village" in Charles County, Maryland, United States with zip code 20643. The Post Office was established in 1897 and remained open until at least 1976. Today Ironsides area residents have Indian Head or Nanjemoy addresses. The nearby historic post offices of Nanjemoy and Doncaster, dating from 1800 and 1855, are often associated with historical records of Ironsides. The elevation is 126 feet (38 m). The origin of the name of the town is unclear; it's either a reference to the Frigate USS Constitution, known as "Old Ironsides", or to iron siding on a house renovated there in 1886. Nearby, Old Durham Church is a local landmark; originally a log structure, it was replaced with brick in 1732 and renovated in 1791. Revolutionary War General William Smallwood and colonial Governor William Stone are buried there. Smallwood was elected vestryman at Old Durham Church in 1788, and built a road from his home at Mattawoman Plantation in modern Rison, to the church. "Smallwood Church Road" today is a paved two-lane road running from Rison to Ironsides. During the colonial period, the Ironsides area was divided up into small farms with colorful names: Ward's Delight, Ward's Addition, Wards Trouble, Ingerthorpe/ Ingerstone/ Angerstone/ Ingolthorpe, Charlestowne, Ragged Chance, Randolphs Addition, Senas Delight, Dembar Addition, the Land Resurveyed, Franklins Beginning, Expectation, and Moles Adventure.

The parish was established in 1661 and chartered in 1692.^[1] The original church building was a log structure, which was replaced with the current brick church building in 1732; the 1732 building was enlarged and renovated in 1791. Revolutionary War General William Smallwood and colonial Governor William Stone are buried in the churchyard. ^[2]^[3]

William Smallwood was an American planter, soldier and politician from Charles County, Maryland. He served in the American Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of major general. He was serving as the fourth Governor of Maryland when the state adopted the United States Constitution.

William Maximillian Stone, 3rd Proprietary Governor of Province of Maryland was an early, English settler in Maryland. He was governor of the colony of Maryland from 1649 to 1655.

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Nanjemoy Creek is a 13.1-mile-long (21.1 km) tidal tributary of the Potomac River in Charles County, Maryland, United States, located between Cedar Point Neck and Tayloe Neck. Its watershed area is 73 square miles (190 km²), with 2% impervious surface in 1994.

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Christ Church refers to both an Episcopal parish currently located in Matapeake, Maryland and the historic church building located in the Stevensville Historic District in Stevensville, Maryland, which the parish occupied from 1880 to 1995, and that is now a Lutheran church. Christ Church Parish was one of the original 30 Anglican parishes in the Province of Maryland.

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Maryland Route 425 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs 11.77 miles (18.94 km) from MD 6 near Nanjemoy north to MD 224 in Mason Springs. MD 425 connects Nanjemoy and Ironsides with Pisgah and Mason Springs in western Charles County. The state highway was built as two different routes in the early 1930s: MD 425 from Mason Springs to south of Pisgah, and MD 491 near Nanjemoy. MD 425 and MD 491 were extended to MD 6 in Ironsides in 1950, with MD 425 assuming MD 491 in 1956.

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References

↑ Christ Church, Old Durham Parish, "About Us", http://christchurcholddurhamparish.com/About_Us.html; see also Nancy Bromley McConaty, 2008, "Priest delves into history," SoMdNews.com, http://ww2.somdnews.com/stories/05162008/indymor203051_32190.shtml, Friday, May 16, 2008; and Rev. William Pusey Painter, 1894, History of Durham Parish, Charles County, Maryland 1692-1892, s.l. (Nanjemoy, Md): The Parish Wardens and Vestry.
↑ Maryland: A Guide to the Old Line State, Oxford University Press, NY, 1948.
↑ Christ Church, Old Durham Parish, "About Us", http://christchurcholddurhamparish.com/About_Us.html.

Coordinates: 38°29′21″N77°9′41″W / 38.48917°N 77.16139°W / 38.48917; -77.16139

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

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[1] Christ Church, Old Durham Parish, "About Us", http://christchurcholddurhamparish.com/About_Us.html; see also Nancy Bromley McConaty, 2008, "Priest delves into history," SoMdNews.com, http://ww2.somdnews.com/stories/05162008/indymor203051_32190.shtml, Friday, May 16, 2008; and Rev. William Pusey Painter, 1894, History of Durham Parish, Charles County, Maryland 1692-1892, s.l. (Nanjemoy, Md): The Parish Wardens and Vestry.

[2] Maryland: A Guide to the Old Line State, Oxford University Press, NY, 1948.

[3] Christ Church, Old Durham Parish, "About Us", http://christchurcholddurhamparish.com/About_Us.html.

Christ Church (Ironsides, Maryland)

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