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DORSEY CHAPEL (BROOKLAND M.E. CHURCH)

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1900; 1990s restored. 10704 Brookland Rd.
  • (Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie)

This rare surviving rural, turn-of-the-twentieth-century chapel was built by African American farmers who developed a community around the Good Samaritan Lodge, a freedmen’s beneficial society. It was named for the first pastor, the Reverend A. B. Dorsey, who also presided over camp meetings held here. Inspired by Gothic Revival architecture, the chapel employs lancet windows and a steeply pitched gable-front roof with decorative shingling in the gable end. A dwindling congregation led to the chapel’s closure in 1971, and for nearly two decades it was allowed to fall into disrepair. Recognized for its reflection of the cultural and religious heritage of the county’s Black population, it was purchased by a friends’ group and restored in the 1990s. The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) now operates it as a public museum.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie
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Data

What's Nearby

BOWIE RAILROAD BUILDINGS
Roosevelt Center
OLD GREENBELT
Greenbelt Community Center
Greenbelt Museum

Citation

Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie, "DORSEY CHAPEL (BROOKLAND M.E. CHURCH)", [Glenn Dale, Maryland], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MD-01-CR15.

Print Source

Buildings of Maryland, Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2022, 293-294.

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