Mount Gilboa Chapel Explained

Mt. Gilboa Chapel
Location:2312 Westchester Avenue, Oella, Maryland
Coordinates:39.2749°N -76.7786°W
Added:October 21, 1976
Refnum:76000978

Mount Gilboa Chapel is a historic African Methodist Episcopal Church located in Oella, Maryland, United States. It is a small stone church measuring 28 feet by 42 feet, built about 1859 by free African Americans. The front façade is ashlar masonry, but the sides and rear are of rubble.[1]

Background

The building is the replacement of an earlier log chapel of unknown origin. It is possible that neighbor Benjamin Banneker attended services in such a log building.[1] An obelisk that the Maryland Bicentennial Commission and the State Commission on Afro American History and Culture erected in 1977 to commemorate Banneker stands in the church's yard near his unmarked grave.[2] His grave is among less than two dozen marked graves in the graveyard adjacent to the chapel.

The chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: National Register of Historic Places Registration: Mount Gilboa Chapel. 1975. 2016-03-01 . Rev. Roland Howard. Maryland Historical Trust.
  2. (1) "Benjamin Banneker" marker in website of hmdb.org: The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
    (2) Coordinates of Benjamim Banneker obelisk: 39.275°N -76.7788°W
  3. , at Maryland Historical Trust