Then
In 1822, a group of former enslaved people formed the Sharp Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Sandy Spring. The first independent Black church in Montgomery County, it celebrated its bicentennial last year.
Founders of the church had been enslaved by Sandy Spring Quakers, who freed them after the American Revolution. The land on which the first log cabin church was built was deeded to the Blacks for 10 cents by white Quaker friends. The church burned down in 1922 and was replaced by the current building. Today, the Rev. Diane Dixon-Proctor is the pastor of what is now the Sharp Street United Methodist Church.
The photo above shows the church in 1946; below, a drone’s-eye-view taken last month.
Now
