Strawbridge Shrine, Maryland

The Strawbridge Shrine was the home of Robert and Elizabeth Strawbridge. Robert was a Methodist preacher in his home country of Ireland. During his travels he met and eventually married Elizabeth Piper. They moved to America in the 1760s and established a Methodist following in the Colony of Maryland. 

Statues of Robert and Elizabeth, with their home in the background

They built a home and farm, but his calling was preaching and he developed an ever widening circuit, traveling as far as Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Strawbridge home

Like many colonial homes that could afford it, the Strawbridge home had a separate building for a kitchen to keep the heat out of the main house during the summertime. The kitchen also dealt with other domestic chores like ironing.

Kitchen and outbuilding

Barns

The site has a replica of a Methodist meeting house (called a "Methodist Class") and a bell from one of the historic Methodist churches.

Meeting house and bell

Robert died in 1781 of an unspecified illness and was eventually buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Baltimore. His work started the Methodist movement in what became the United States of America.

A gazebo further out on the land has statues that I assume are Robert and Elizabeth in action, riding the circuit of meeting houses and preaching a Biblical faith.

Gazebo with people in it?

The statues

When I visited, none of the buildings were open. They do have a museum and gift shop.