Endangered Maryland 2009

8. MOUNT NEBO AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH In 1877, three African-American men, acting as church trustees, acquired an acre of land on Queen Anne Road in Prince George’s County. That year, a small log church was built adjacent to the small schoolhouse that had been erected two years prior. The buildings soon became important meeting places for the local African-American community. In 1920, a fire destroyed the original log structure. Members raised funds for a new one-story church, which was constructed in 1925. From 1944 to 1947, Elaine Brown Tutman attended the two-room Mount Nebo School. The school had no electricity or indoor plumbing, says Tutman, whose mother and aunts were pupils there in the 1920s. “The threadbare books and worn maps were no barrier to my success in college years later,” she says. Today, the new Mount Nebo AME Church is a large facility in Bowie that is home to 1,600 members; however, the congregation still owns the old church, and Tutman is among the community members wishing to restore the now-deteriorating 84-year-old church to “the historic treasure that it is. It symbolizes the hopes and dreams that liberated people a long time ago had for the future of its people and community,” says Tutman. Doug McElrath of Prince George’s Heritage Inc., who nominated the church, says, “It isn’t great architecture, but this humble structure is a physical reminder of the struggle and triumph of African Americans from a time when our society pushed them to the margins. To lose the Mt. Nebo Church would be to lose a tangible connection to the important story of Prince George’s County, which now is home to one of the most affluent and successful African-American populations in the U.S. “If we choose to neglect places like Mt. Nebo, we are in effect denying the heroic efforts of those who came before us and laid the foundation for the successes that followed.” The church, designated as an historic landmark by the state, is in need of about $100,000 for renovations.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Endangered Maryland 2009

10 New Sites Worth Saving Endangered Maryland 2009 Meet the Endangered Maryland Selection Committee 1. Brumbaugh-Kendle-Grove Farmstead 2. Falkland Apartments 3. Friendship Hall Linwood Village 4. Handsell 5. High Winds Gun Club 7. The Mechanic Theatre 8. Mount Nebo African Methodist Episcopal Church 9. St. Patrick's Catholic Church 10. Upton Mansion Historical Community Awards Endangered Maryland 2008 Update

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