1888 - Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Church, Eldersburg, MD
The first Ebenezer church was organized by a Methodist Circuit Rider in the 1820's. The first church was on Braddock Road just west of Skidmore Road near Winfield, Maryland. This log structure was used as a school during the week and as a church on Sundays. This was accomplished by rearranging the benches and placing a partition down the center aisle to separate the men and women. The log church burned to the ground in 1848. A barrack, or barn style structure, was built as a new church on land in the center of the present Ebenezer Cemetery, donated by Mr. Rubin Conaway. Meetings began in 1885 to plan the present sanctuary, and lasted three years. The debate was over whether the sanctuary should be built with or without a partition dividing the men and the women. The new sanctuary was finally built in 1888 without the partition, although the building maintained separate entrances for men and women. Historically men occupied the south side of Methodist sanctuaries and women sat on the north side. Although the altar was originally on the east end of the sanctuary, the sanctuary was turned 180 degrees during subsequent remodeling.
