St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church
Laytonsville, Maryland

The Spirit of God moved our early settlers to found Saint Bartholomew’s Parish in 1812. It was third in a series of churches that have served Episcopalians in the area since pre-Revolutionary days. It was formed as an offshoot of the Hawlings River Chapel, which was built around 1760 in the Brighton area for Prince George’s Parish, now Christ Church in Rockville.

St. Bartholomew’s first permanent church, built of stone in the Gothic style, was consecrated by the Bishop of Maryland in 1819. It was located near the Hawlings River several miles East of what is now the town of Laytonsville. A century later, the congregation moved to the center of Laytonsville, which was becoming a thriving community. There the present church building was constructed in 1909 and consecrated in 1919. Electric lights were installed in 1923. The congregation continued to move with the times as it allowed women the right to vote at parish meetings in 1922 and to serve on the vestry in 1939.

For nearly a century, until 1948, the congregation shared a rector with St. John’s in Olney. In the following years, the church was provided ministerial service by the Virginia Theological Seminary. It also shared rectors with other churches. In 1956, an addition to the building provided toilet facilities, a kitchen, and a new boiler room. A church organ was purchased in 1957. In 1960, some members of the parish left St. Bartholomew’s to help found St. Anne’s Mission in the neighboring town of Damascus. In 1961, the church bought an adjacent property for use as the rectory for the Reverend David Lord. Called in 1962, he became the first full-time rector. The present land area of the church resulted from the later acquisition of three additional properties.