St. John's Episcopal Church, Zion Parish

St. John's Episcopal Church, Zion Parish
St. John's Episcopal Church, Zion Parish
Religion
Affiliation	Episcopal
District	Episcopal Diocese of Washington
Leadership	Rev. Joseph M. Constant
Year consecrated	1878
Location
Location	11040 Baltimore Ave; Greenbelt, Maryland 20705
Geographic coordinates	39°02′06″N76°54′30″W / 39.03500°N 76.90833°W
Architecture
Style	Gothic Revival
Completed	1877
Materials	brick, wood shingle roof
Website
	Official website

Last updated February 03, 2025

St. John's Episcopal Church, Zion Parish in Beltsville, Maryland, United States, is a historic place of worship whose congregation dates back more than two centuries.^[1]

History and architecture

The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland established the parish in 1811 and it first held services in Old Paint Branch Chapel in Calverton, Maryland near the border between Prince George's County, Maryland and Montgomery County, Maryland. Between 1825 and 1847, the congregation worshiped in Vansville, Maryland, also in Prince George's County. The wooden structures used by the congregation in the 19th century were destroyed by fire, storm, tornado and lightning.^[2]

Two other historic once rural parishes have similar names. One, Zion Episcopal Church, was established in Urbana in Frederick County, Maryland in 1802 and burned down in 1961, although the ruins and cemetery remain as a historic site and the church is expected to be rebuilt.^[3]^[4] Another, known as St. Mark's Paint Branch Chapel, was built in 1774 in what became Silver Spring in Montgomery County, Maryland, rebuilt in 1835 and ultimately removed in 1877 and replaced by a modern structure circa 1980.^[5]

In 1855, the St. John's Zion Parish vestry received 1.5 acres along the Baltimore Pike from innkeeper John W. Brown (whose establishment was 1.25 miles south) and his wife, and the property eventually increased to about 3 acres. A frame building was then erected, and soon a cemetery. Rev. William Pinkney, then the rector of St. Matthew's Parish^[6] in Hyattsville since 1836, spoke during the 1857 consecration and took care of parishioners during their first year at this location. During the American Civil War, Union artillery forces occupied the strategic site on a hill overlooking historic Route 1.^[2] However, it was destroyed by fire in 1868 and rebuilt in wood, only to be again destroyed by a severe storm in 1874.

The current brick building with a steep pitched roof, round-arched stained glass windows and bell tower was erected in 1877 at the urging of its former rector, and on April 22, 1878 was consecrated by Rt. Rev. William Pinkney, who had by then risen to become suffragan Episcopal Bishop of Maryland and who would become the diocesan bishop upon the death of the disabled Rt. Rev. William Wittingham the following year. Despite another fire in 1972 which required extensive restoration, its architectural integrity and status as a local landmark led to its inclusion among the county's historic sites, as shown by an exterior plaque. The parish house was added in 1924 and connected by a (later enclosed) breezeway with the church. An office wing in a harmonious style was added to the other side of the parish house in 1991.^[7]

Brigadier General Rezin Beall is buried in the church's cemetery.

Current status

St. John's Episcopal Church is an active parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. Rev. Joseph M. Constant, who in 2005 founded the Haiti Micah Project while working for the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, was installed as rector in 2015.^[8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Episcopal Diocese of Washington</span> Diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States

The Episcopal Diocese of Washington is a diocese of the Episcopal Church covering Washington, D.C., and nearby counties of Maryland in the United States. With a membership of over 38,000, the diocese is led by the bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde. It is home to Washington National Cathedral, which is the seat of both the diocesan bishop and the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

Truro Anglican Church is an Anglican church in Fairfax, Virginia, USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia</span> Diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States

The Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (TEC). It encompasses all 55 counties of West Virginia. The diocese has 66 congregations, including 38 parishes, 26 missions, and 2 other churches. The diocese is headquartered in Charleston and led by The Rt. Rev. Matthew Davis Cowden who was consecrated as bishop coadjutor in March, 2022 and became bishop diocesan in October, 2022.

The Church of the Ascension and Saint Agnes is an Episcopal church building located at 1215 Massachusetts Avenue in Northwest Washington, D.C., US. The current structure built in 1874 as the Church of the Ascension was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. In the late 1940s, the Church of the Ascension merged with the nearby St. Agnes Episcopal Church and adopted its present name, under which it has continued as an active parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

Thomas John Claggett was the first bishop of the newly formed American Episcopal Church to be consecrated on American soil and the first bishop of the recently established (1780) Diocese of Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral (Memphis, Tennessee)</span> Historic church in Tennessee, United States

St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, designed by Memphis architect Bayard Snowden Cairns, located near downtown Memphis, Tennessee, is the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee and the former cathedral of the old statewide Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee.

Christ Church — known also as Christ Church, Washington Parish or Christ Church on Capitol Hill — is a historic Episcopal church located at 620 G Street SE in Washington, D.C., USA. The church is also called Christ Church, Navy Yard, because of its proximity to the Washington Navy Yard and the nearby U.S. Marine Barracks.

St. James' Parish is a historic church located on Solomons Island Road in the hamlet of Tracys Landing, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States.

St. John's Church, St. John's Episcopal Church, or St. John's Episcopal Church, Broad Creek, is a historic Episcopal church located at 9801 Livingston Road in Fort Washington, Prince George's County, Maryland. It is a rectangular Flemish bond brick structure with a bell hipped roof. The interior features a barrel vaulted ceiling with an intricate support system.

St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, more commonly called Old St. Paul's Church today, is a historic Episcopal church located at 233 North Charles Street at the southeast corner with East Saratoga Street, in Baltimore, Maryland, near "Cathedral Hill" on the northern edge of the downtown central business district to the south and the Mount Vernon-Belevedere cultural/historic neighborhood to the north. It was founded in 1692 as the parish church for the "Patapsco Parish", one of the "original 30 parishes" of the old Church of England in colonial Maryland.

William Paret was the 137th bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America and was a bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

Immanuel Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal church and cemetery located near Mechanicsville, Hanover County, Virginia.

St. George's Church is an intercultural, multilingual Episcopal congregation in Flushing, Queens, New York City. With members from over twenty different nations of origin, it has served an ever-changing congregation since the 18th century. The current church building, constructed in 1854, is a New York City designated landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, formerly known as Grace Cathedral, is the historic cathedral in the Diocese of Iowa. The cathedral is located on the bluff overlooking Downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1873, Trinity is one of the oldest cathedrals in the Episcopal Church in the United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 1983 the cathedral was included as a contributing property in the College Square Historic District, which is also listed on the National Register.

St. John's Church, or St. John's Episcopal Church, founded in 1786, is an historic Episcopal church located at 101 South Prospect Street in the South Prospect Street Historic District of Hagerstown, Maryland. It is the seat of Saint John's Parish, Diocese of Maryland, which covers most of Washington County, Maryland.

William Pinkney was fifth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

St. James Episcopal Church Lafayette Square, or St. James African Episcopal Church, founded in 1824, is a historic Episcopal church now located at 1024 W. Lafayette Avenue in the Lafayette Square Historic District of Baltimore, Maryland.

Christ Church, or Christ Episcopal Church, is an Anglican church in Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia. The church was founded in 1738, with its first vestry elected in 1742. It is the seat of Frederick Parish, Diocese of Virginia, which once covered half of the Shenandoah Valley and western Virginia, including what became West Virginia. The current church building, the parish's third, was designed by Robert Mills - it was completed in 1828, and is the oldest church building continuously used for religious purposes in the county. It is a contributing building in the local Historic District which predates the National Register of Historic Places, and which has been expanded three times since 1980.

Grace & St. Peter's Church is an Anglo-Catholic Episcopal parish in the city of Baltimore, in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. The congregation is the product of the 1912 amalgamation of two earlier parishes, St. Peter's Church and Grace Church. Its building, constructed in Brownstone, is an elaborate example of English Gothic Revival architecture dating from 1852. Today, Grace & St. Peter's is distinguished by its Anglo-Catholic liturgy and professional choir. From 1940 to 2020, it was also home to the Wilkes School at Grace & St. Peter's, an Episcopal day school which closed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Christ Church Accokeek is an Anglican parish church and cemetery in Accokeek, Maryland. Founded in 1698 as a chapel of ease, the present brick structure dates to 1747 and the cemetery to 1775. In 2021, after decades of conflict with the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, the congregation left the Episcopal Church and joined the Anglican Church in North America. The church is listed on the Maryland Historical Trust's Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties.

References

↑ "PG:61-9: St. John's Episcopal Church" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-05-30.
1 2 "Who We Are" . Retrieved 30 May 2019.
↑ "Zion Church". Archived from the original on 2007-10-23. Retrieved 2025-02-01.
↑ "F-7-064: Zion Episcopal Church, ruins & Cemetery" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-05-30.
↑ "M: 34-9: St. Mark's Chapel (Paint Chapel)" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-05-30.
↑ "St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Hyattsville MD - Our History". www.stmatthewshyattsville.org. Archived from the original on 26 June 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
↑ "St. John's Episcopal Church, M-NCPPC Inventory Number: PG:61-9" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust . Maryland State Archives. 22 April 2003. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
↑ "Staff" . Retrieved 30 May 2019.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "PG:61-9: St. John's Episcopal Church" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-05-30.

[saintjohnsbeltsville.org-2] 1 2 "Who We Are" . Retrieved 30 May 2019.

[3] "Zion Church". Archived from the original on 2007-10-23. Retrieved 2025-02-01.

[4] "F-7-064: Zion Episcopal Church, ruins & Cemetery" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-05-30.

[5] "M: 34-9: St. Mark's Chapel (Paint Chapel)" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-05-30.

[6] "St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Hyattsville MD - Our History". www.stmatthewshyattsville.org. Archived from the original on 26 June 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2022.

[MHT-7] "St. John's Episcopal Church, M-NCPPC Inventory Number: PG:61-9" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust . Maryland State Archives. 22 April 2003. Retrieved 3 August 2016.

[8] "Staff" . Retrieved 30 May 2019.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]