The Washington Grove Historic District is a national historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 that comprises the community of Washington Grove

Washington Grove, Maryland

Washington Grove is a town in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The population was 515 at the 2000 census.- History :Washington Grove is known as the “Town Within a Forest.”...

 in Montgomery County

Montgomery County, Maryland

Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland, situated just to the north of Washington, D.C., and southwest of the city of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The town was founded in 1874 as a Methodist

Methodism

Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

 meeting camp, located near the B&O Railroad

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

 Metropolitan Branch Line (now the MARC Brunswick Line). Beginning as a temporary camp in a wooded area, the community grew with the addition of wood-framed cottages radiating in a "Sacred Circle" from a central tabernacle. Uniquely, the houses were arranged to face each other across a network of pedestrian paths, with streets relegated to the rear to provide service. Intended to be used for two-week tent meetings in July and August, the tree-shaded camp became a refuge from the heat of Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

. In 1937 the Washington Grove Camp Meeting Association was dissolved, and the community was incorporated as a town.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

in 1980.

External links

• Washington Grove, Montgomery County, including photo in 1974, at Maryland Historical Trust
• Boundary Map of the Washington Grove Historic District, Montgomery County, at Maryland Historical Trust