The Bell Tower @ Holy Trinity Memorial Evangelical Lutheran Church - Sharpsburg, MD
N 39° 27.547 W 077° 44.754
18S E 263754 N 4371326
This beautiful brick church with its two uneven bell towers is of truly unique construction and contributes nicely to the Sharpsburg Historic District. The cornerstone lists the construction date as 1892.
Waymark Code: WMDD3A
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 12/27/2011
Views: 5
This church was built after the Battle of Antietam so it lacks that aspect of Civil War history that many religious institutions bear, but, it is still a contributing structure to the local historic district. I did manage to find a narration of the building:
The Holy Trinity Lutheran Church is a south-facing, one-story-and-tower, three bay, brick, freestanding, ecclesiastical structure resting on a stone foundation. Built in a simplified, yet robust Gothic Revival style, it is set directly at the public-right-of-way on a corner lot. The church exhibits characteristics that are typical of German Gothic churches and are thus reminiscent of the church's religious heritage. Among these features are the simple decorative brickwork, the squat form, and the two front towers of similar yet different design and size.
The original building, located a half a block away from this site was damaged during the Battle of Antietam. Its cupola was used as a lookout Tower. The building was used as a field hospital. In April 1863 it was torn own. In 1869, a second church was built at the same site. By 1890, the congregation was too big for the church and the rest is history. In 1893, the new church was completed (this church) and rededicated as the Holy Trinity Memorial Evangelical Lutheran Church in memory of the soldiers that died in the Battle of Antietam.
Prior experience makes me about 99.99% sure this building is a contributing structure but as the nomination form has yet to be digitized on the Focus site, I do not have the necessary documentation to prove this as a fact.
I was particularly fond of the bell towers, especially the larger one. The bell tower projects from the front facade, yet it is aligned with the side elevation located at Church Street. It is clearly defined on four sides and has similar decorative features as the east bay: a lancet window at the ground floor, brick buttressing, and the crenelated parapet at the top. However, it stands much higher than the east bay and also features round windows in each face, paired lancet openings in each face of the belfry, and brick corbelling near the parapet. (citation below)