| NEWS For More Informaiton For a schedule of activities at Emory Grove, and for an article on 4th of July celebration: Emory Grove Ladies Auxiliary Web Site
www.ladiesauxiliary.
homestead.com For an Article on Emory Grove:
www.americanprofile.com
/issues Enter Emory Grove in the search box. Click on the story by Susan C. Ingram. | Emory Grove camp meeting: History of faith alive BY DAVID E. BOHNERT UMCONNECTION CORRESPONDENT 
Christians who yearn for a time and a place apart for meditation, Bible study, worship and physical and spiritual quietness can fulfill that longing in a rural setting at Emory Grove. Located near Glyndon, a few miles north of Baltimore, Emory Grove is an ecumenical summer religious center deeply rooted in Methodism. Area Methodists began to gather at the secluded rural site for religious services even before the Emory Grove Association of Baltimore was formed in 1868, according to the Rev. Emora T. Brannon, pastor of Grace UMC in Baltimore. The association was named for much-beloved Bishop John Emory, a member of the Baltimore Conference, who was killed in a buggy accident on Reisterstown Road in 1835, Brannon said. In honor of 135 years of continuous summertime Christian worship, the association has scheduled Come Back to the Past, 135th Year Homecoming at Emory Grove, for the weekend Aug. 22-24, according to Kathy Mellott, first vice president for religion for the Emory Grove Association. Weekend festivities will begin with a welcome reception and a tour of the newly renovated hotel. Saturday events include a continental breakfast, cook-out lunch, tours of some of the cottages, games in the childrens temple, supper in the hotel, and a variety show and dessert in the tabernacle. Sunday morning will begin with a pancake breakfast prepared and served by the men of Emory Grove. Brannon will preach at the 10 a.m. worship service in the tabernacle. In the early days, Emory Grove was accessible by streetcar from Baltimore or by the Western Maryland Railroad to the Glyndon railroad depot and from there by horse-drawn trolley. Forty-seven cottages have been built to replace the tents pitched by families. Some of the cottages are occupied by third- and fourth- generation families. One of three hotels, recently renovated, remains and the tabernacle in which evangelist Billy Sunday once preached is still in service. The tabernacle, according to Brannon, was a converted open-air market located in Hanover, Pa., that was dismantled, moved to Emory Grove and reassembled in the center of the grounds. Today, according to Mellott, Emory Grove, now in the National and State Historical registries, hosts weekly Sunday evening worship services, hymn sings on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m., a youth rally and chamber music by members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The ecumenical nature of Emory Grove is reflected in the schedule of Sunday worship services conducted by six United Methodist ministers with the remaining services conducted by Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Church of the Brethren ministers and a Roman Catholic priest. Brannon developed a renewed interest in the history of Emory Grove upon his return in 1975 as pastor of Lovely Lane UMC in Baltimore. He remembers attending services at Emory Grove as a child. Each district was responsible for a Sunday evening service. What Emory Grove does represent is 135 years of commitment to coming apart to concentrate on spiritual things in the midst of a secular world, he said. |
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