1861, 1 1/2 story gable-roof frame meeting-house with bracketed cornice and gabled entry vestibule. Built during the division in the Methodist Episcopal "Church in the 1860s on land donated by J. T. Perkins; one of the few surviving mid-19th century rural chapels in the county."
In 1861, several families left Pleasant Grove to build a new house of worship on a donated acre of Perkins farm in the railroad town of Glennville (now Glenn Dale). Because of the shortage of supplies and manpower during the Civil War, Perkins Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church was not dedicated until 1869. Joel Brown was its first local pastor.
Between 1875 and 1895, Perkins Chapel was part of the Bladensburg Circuit. After Lanham’s Whitefield Chapel built a parsonage in 1895, Perkins Chapel shared a minister with Lanham and Bowie Methodist Church. As their congregations grew, Perkins and Bowie separated from the Lanham charge in 1945. Thirteen years later, Perkins Chapel separated from Bowie and finally became a station with its own minister.
In 1965, the congregation outgrew the one-room “church in the wildwood” and built the present brick church down the hill from Perkins Chapel. That same year the building was dedicated as Perkins Memorial. On Sept. 18, 1984, Perkins Chapel became a Designated Historic Site. Today, it is opened only for special services. Please call (301) 262-2299 for more information
