The Bethesda Meeting House Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Donations welcome!
Join the Bethesda Metro Area Village for a free public program on Friday, February 13, from 2–3 p.m. at the Connie Morella Library (7400 Arlington Rd):
“The Past, Present and Future of the Bethesda Meeting House — the church that named Bethesda.”
One of Bethesda’s most historic landmarks, the Bethesda Meeting House has stood at the heart of the community for more than two centuries. Yet until recently, this treasured building — along with its adjacent parsonage — sat vacant and deteriorating. In 2023, it was saved when the Bethesda Meeting House Foundation, an affiliate of the Bethesda Historical Society, acquired the property and began planning its restoration and future use.
Originally constructed in 1820 and rebuilt in 1850 after a fire, the Meeting House holds a remarkable place in local and national history. It includes a rare surviving “slave gallery,” once served as Bethesda’s first Post Office, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as well as Montgomery County’s Master Plan for Historic Preservation. Tradition even holds that Abraham Lincoln worshipped there, and the building was occupied by Confederate cavalry during Jubal Early’s 1864 raid on Washington.
Bethesda historian Hank Levine will offer an illustrated tour of this iconic site — exploring its rich past, its meaning for the community today, and what lies ahead for its preservation.
Go to www.bmavillage.org, to learn more about how you can help your neighbors with rides, light home repair, friendly visits or technology assistance as a volunteer, or benefits of membership.
Watch 2024's fabulous start
to the preservation of the Bethesda Meeting House!
A huge thank you to the dozens of volunteers who made 2024 such an incredible year for the Bethesda Historical Society and Bethesda Meeting House Foundation. As you can see from this video, we accomplished an amazing amount and we could not have done it without you!
Listen to Hank Levine discuss the history, the present and the future of the Bethesda Meeting House.
On the PreserveCast podcast, which brings you stories from around the world about the people who are doing the work to preserve, interpret, and save our past. Each weekly episode makes the case for the value, relevance, and importance of history in our lives.
Find the link to the podcast here
PreserveCast is powered by Preservation Maryland, a non-profit organization that believes the future is richer when it understands the past.
Past, Present and Future of Bethesda Meeting House
Watch Hank Levine, president of the Bethesda Meeting House Foundation, present an illustrated tour of this iconic building’s history, architecture and significance.
Click here to watch the one-hour video on Youtube.
Hank’s presentation begins at the 3:10 mark.
You'll have to wait another month to visit the amazing Bethesda Meeting site with its church and parsonage at our Open House
March 8th from 1 pm to 4 pm.
Almost-Spring is a great time to tour the buildings and learn more about the history of this unique place just a block north of NIH. Or, enjoy a quiet walk through the adjacent cemetery founded in 1820 where some of Bethesda’s first families now rest.
You can also bring your gloves, garden tools, rakes, shovels and battery-powered leaf blowers to help us garden.
We look forward to seeing you between 1 pm and 4 pm. No need to RSVP. Ample parking is available. We’re at 9400 Rockville Pike, accessible only when driving south towards NIH. See you then!
Contact us at bethesdahistory@gmail.com
Our mailing address:
4300 Montgomery Avenue, #104, Bethesda, MD 20814
Visit our sister site BethesdaHistoricalSociety.org
Bethesda Meeting House
You’ve probably driven by the small white church on a knoll overlooking Rockville Pike on your way to downtown Bethesda and may have wondered how it came to be and who occupies it now.
This is the Bethesda Meeting House, built in 1850, where Abraham Lincoln is said to have spoken or worshiped, where Confederate soldiers briefly camped before a skirmish with Union soldiers, and which became the “church that named Bethesda” 153 years ago.
Over the years, the site was occupied by a Presbyterian congregation, a wealthy DC socialite who gained some renown as an artist, a Catholic missionary order, and finally a small Baptist group that died out a few years ago and left the church and its adjacent parsonage abandoned and in sad decay. The site is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was one of the original sites on the 1979 Montgomery County Master Plan for Historic Preservation.
Last December, the Bethesda Historical Society purchased the three-acre site, thanks to a generous donation from a Bethesda couple who prefer to remain anonymous. Since then, the Society has worked, with extraordinary help from the community, to clean up the property, secure the premises, make urgent repairs, and arrange for the surveys necessary before restoration can begin and the eventual use of the property decided.
The Bethesda Meeting House site is a unique historical treasure that deserves to be preserved for future generations. Offers to help us are welcome.
Contact us at bethesdahistory@gmail.com
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