“We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted
by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
– I Thessalonians 1:3
In 2017, Christ Church Wayside marked 325 years of active, forward-looking ministry in the communities of Newburg and the Cobb Neck peninsula. We are excited about the opportunities to share the presence of Christ in the world by word and by deed, and to proclaim the life-transforming Good News of Jesus Christ.
The Church’s ministry began nearly 100 years before the Revolutionary War. Christ Church, Wayside was one of 30 parishes created by the Maryland Assembly’s Establishment Act in 1692. The church building itself dates to 1690. In fact, the Church had actually existed for several years before, known originally as Piccawaxen Church.
We have little additional information until 1750 when the Maryland Assembly voted funds to enlarge and repair the church under the direction of its rector, the Rev. Samual Claggett. Forty years later this name was to make ecclesiastical history when his son, Thomas John Claggett, became the first Anglican Bishop of Maryland.
The Church’s records prior to the Civil War are sketchy – some were burned and others lost during the War. However, the vestry minutes of 1864 note that the vestry voted to suspend service “because of destruction of windows and other acts of violence” until repairs could be made. The church had been used to quarter Union soldiers and also as a stable for their mounts. Finally, under the direction of the rector, Father John Todd, a contract was signed in 1869 to repair the church.
During this period Church services were held at the “Mt. Republic” estate about one mile from the church. The Record Book containing the Vestry Minutes has been in continuous use since 1864. We are excited about the future of our church, and we hope you will come and experience this loving, joyful community in person – and help build our history going forward.