Churches and Cemeteries in Perry Hall
by David Marks
Historian, Perry Hall Improvement Association
Perry Hall's religious ancestry is Methodist. It was at Perry Hall Mansion that plans
for the Methodist Church of America were developed by Francis Asbury, Harry Dorsey Gough,
and a handful of early Methodist leaders. These pioneers helped start Camp Chapel Church,
which provided religious instruction for the woodcutter families near the Gunpowder River.
Camp Chapel was followed by Perry Hall United Methodist Church in 1866.
![[ Camp Chapel United Methodist Church is the oldest house of worship in Perry Hall. During the War of
1812, parishioners gathered at this site.]](hist_pe_ccumc.jpg)
Camp Chapel United Methodist Church is the oldest house of worship in
Perry Hall.
During the War of 1812, parishioners gathered at this site.
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Methodism was the defining religion in Perry Hall until about 1850, when dozens of
German and Irish families settled northeastern Baltimore County. These immigrants brought
with them the older religions of Europe, mainly Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism. Between
1850 and 1870, three new churches were built in Perry Hall.
St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church began in 1850. First services were held in the
Krastel farmhouse near Fullerton. The Krastel family donated a tract of land for the
church near their home on Buck's Schoolhouse Road. When this became too small, the growing
parish bought fourteen acres on Belair Road for a permanent site, paying only $200 for a
tract of land on Perry Hall's western border. The church was finished in 1870. It was used
continuously until 1971, when the current building was completed. Bells from the original
parish are displayed in back of the main hall.
![[ Photograph of the statue at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church ]](hist_pe_catholic.jpg)
Photograph of the statue
at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church.
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German immigrants adopted a charter for their new Lutheran parish on March 7th, 1859.
They called their congregation Germantown Lutheran Church, although we now know it as the
St. Michael's Lutheran Church. The original constitution is still in the church records.
Three years later, a stone church was built on an acre of land donated by Michael
Groeller. The present sanctuary, built in 1966, is the third building to occupy the
grounds.
Perry Hall Presbyterian Church, organized in 1856, was an outreach effort for Hamilton
Presbyterian Church in northeast Baltimore. Parishioners gathered in the living room of
the Manse on Belair Road. By Easter Sunday, 1957, a three-car garage next to the Manse had
been renovated into Fellowship Hall. This was used for services until 1966, when the
present sanctuary was dedicated.
Perry Hall's first Baptist congregation was organized in 1957, when Overlea Baptist
Church "seeded" a new parish in northern Perry Hall. Ground was broken in 1960
for Perry Hall Baptist Church. The congregation is now completely independent of Overlea
Baptist Church, and it is the sponsor of the Perry Hall Christian School.
These are Perry Hall's largest organized churches. They weave a rich religious tapestry
for the citizens of Perry Hall. Local churches are united under the Perry Hall
Ministerium, an umbrella group advancing a greater role for religion in the life of the
community.
Perry Hall has other holy places. There are about half a dozen cemeteries scattered
throughout Perry Hall, and those are the ones we know about: many of our earliest settlers
left no headstones or burial markers.
There are two small cemeteries off Ferguson Road. One of these is the Chambers family
burial ground, where one of the original trustees of Camp Chapel Church, Daniel Chambers,
is buried. Another is Rocky Rest, the burial ground for the Spamer family, which has been
well maintained by members of the family for several decades. This is located near Hickory
Falls Way, on top of one of the highest hills in Perry Hall.
Another cemetery is on the grounds of Perry Hall High School. Jacob Seddon deeded an
acre of land in 1850 for a cemetery, and the site was eventually sold to Baltimore
County's Board of Education for the community's new high school. The cemetery no longer
has any headstones, and it is located immediately behind the tennis courts and main
parking lot of the school.
One of the few public cemeteries in Perry Hall is behind Folz's service station on
Belair Road. It was here that Perry Hall United Methodist Church stood until 1960.
Although the sanctuary has since moved, the original cemetery remains.
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