St. Mark's Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal church located at Boonsboro,

Washington County, Maryland Washington County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. The population was 154,705 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Its county seat and largest city is Hagerstown, Maryland, Hagerstown. The ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Originally formed within Saint John's Parish, it was incorporated into Antietam Parish in 1899. The original portion of the church was built in 1849 and is rectangular in shape, with two-foot-thick walls, 17 feet tall, constructed of rough-cut native

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

. It is enclosed by a stone wall which was built in 1922 and surrounded on its eastern, southern, and western sides by a cemetery of 173 markers. The church features a wooden portico covered with a wooden

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

roof and a steeple, which rises another 12 feet and includes the original bell and electronic

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a musical keyboard, keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are Bellfounding, cast in Bell metal, bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and Musical tuning, tu ...

. The building was closed for a brief period following the

Battle of Antietam The Battle of Antietam ( ), also called the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern United States, took place during the American Civil War on September 17, 1862, between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virgi ...

in 1862, but was reopened and has held services continuously ever since. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1999 as "St. Mark's Episcopal Church-Lappans." The church has more recently explored the role of slaves, slave owners, and freed slaves in its history.

References

External links

Church website
*, including photo from 1973, at Maryland Historical Trust Boonsboro, Maryland Churches completed in 1849 19th-century Episcopal church buildings Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Churches in Washington County, Maryland Episcopal church buildings in Maryland 1849 establishments in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Maryland {{Maryland-Anglican-church-stub