Old Salem Church and Cemetery is a historic

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

and adjacent

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

located at

Catonsville Catonsville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 41,567 at the 2010 census. The community lies to the west of Baltimore along the city's border. Catonsville contains the majority of th ...

Baltimore County, Maryland Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City of ...

. The main part of the 1849

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

church building is a three bay, irregular stone structure approximately 28 feet wide and 42 feet long. It features a gable roof, a short boxy steeple, an entrance porch at the front and an apse at the rear. The interior features a gallery and organ loft has the original

tracker organ Tracker action is a term used in reference to pipe organs and steam calliopes to indicate a mechanical linkage between keys or pedals pressed by the organist and the valve that allows air to flow into pipe(s) of the corresponding note. This is ...

, which is still hand pumped by a wooden lever on the north side of the case. From early on, the ground to the south of the church was laid out as a cemetery. The church was founded by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Lutheran immigrants. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1977.

References

External links

* * * , including photo from 1997, at Maryland Historical Trust Catonsville, Maryland Churches in Baltimore County, Maryland German-American culture in Maryland Lutheran churches in Maryland Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Churches completed in 1849 19th-century Lutheran churches in the United States 1849 establishments in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore County, Maryland Lutheran cemeteries in the United States {{BaltimoreCountyMD-NRHP-stub