The Strawbridge Shrine

Ruthella Mory Bibbins, a member of First Methodist Episcopal Church of Baltimore (aka Lovely Lane UMC), discovered the site of the Strawbridge House on October 15, 1916 after extensive research. She had been aided in this by Mr. Philip Snader, a nearby resident whose forbear had been a member of Strawbridge's first society. In 1934, the Methodist H... istorical Society of the Baltimore Conference was given an option to purchase the Strawbridge House, but money could not be raised at that time. In 1940, after unification of the Methodist Church, the Strawbridge House was named one of the first four shrines of American Methodism by the General Conference. In 1944 the Strawbridge Shrine Association was incorporated and in 1959 became active in trying to acquire the house. Finally, in 1973, The Strawbridge House and 32 acre farm were purchased with the provision that the seller, Mr. Haines, have life tenancy in the house. He remained caretaker of the grounds until 1999. The Strawbridge Shrine Association, Inc. then expanded its emphasis to the other historical Methodist buildings. In 1897, the Evans House had been given to the American Methodist Historical Society. In 1978, the United Methodist Historical Society gave it to the Strawbridge Shrine Association, Inc. It was relocated to the Shrine grounds in 1979. The original Log Meeting House which had been built as a preaching place during Strawbridge's time had been razed. In 1909 the site, off MD Route 407, was acquired by the Baltimore Conference. In 1914 the 150th anniversary of the Log Meeting House was celebrated by dedication of a large base there for a proposed statue of Robert Strawbridge. In 1982, a replica of the Log Meeting House was built on the Shrine grounds by Richard L. Blacksten, a log structure restorationist. Mr. Blacksten used logs of the pioneer period. In 1989, a curator's house was erected on the grounds. The Asbury Smith Visitor Center is in its gound level. Today, the Strawbridge Shrine Association continues to preserve and improve the site, ...Read More