This is the most significant historic site in Bethesda, Maryland, and the source of our area’s name. Its beautiful three acres overlook Rockville Pike on a granite knoll just north of downtown Bethesda and a block from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

After nearly 200 years of local residents from Presbyterian, Catholic and Baptist faiths coming to this site to worship, the final congregation disbanded in 2022 and left the property essentially abandoned. 

When the owners failed to interest anyone in building homes or apartments on the site, the Bethesda Historical Society was able to purchase the property with the help of a generous Bethesda couple who prefer to remain anonymous.

A non-profit Bethesda Meeting House Foundation was established to take ownership in December 2023. Since then, the Foundation has been working to reverse decades of deterioration of the church and its adjacent parsonage.

The hope of the Foundation is to convert this unique site into a community asset for everyone to enjoy.