File:Faith-reformed-church-petersville orig.jpeg

Summary

Per information from the South Mountain Heritage Society website.

"This stone building in the center of Petersville was built by Governor Francis Thomas (served as the state's governor from 1842 until 1845 and buried at St. Mark's Cemetery) to serve as a town hall, despite Petersville never being a formally incorporated town.

The structure soon became a church, first used by a Methodist Episcopal congregation. In 1903, a Reformed congregation, founded under the auspices of Burkittsville's Resurrection Reformed Church was organized in Petersville.

Faith Reformed Church purchased the former Methodist Episcopal Church and worshiped here until 1938 when the congregation disbanded. The structure has since served as a private residence."

According to Jody Brumage: The exact date of construction for the building is not known, but it is thought to have been built around 1850 by former Governor Francis Thomas after he acquired his father's Montevue Estate, on which the building stands. In the deed which conveyed the structure to the Methodist Episcopal Church, it referred to the property as the "Town Lot." The building was used as a Methodist Church until 1903 when it was acquired by the Reformed Church, and then as a private residence after 1938.

(​Photograph from the South Mountain Heritage Society Museum collection)