Mount Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church-Sharpsburg

This is the oldest church in Sharpsburg. A deed is recorded in Liber L, folio 179 of the land records of Frederick County that has Joseph Chapline providing the land. Joseph Chapline actually laid out what was to be the first town in Washington County in 1763 on land called Joe's Lott. The town was renamed Sharps Burgh. The land deed for the church was made on March 5, 1768. The land was meant to be used for a church and no other use. It was stated that if the vestry did not build a church on the lot in seven years then the lot reverted to Joseph Chapline.

The first church edifice was a log house on the northwest corner of an old graveyard. The bell, which was supposed to be over one hundred years old…back in 1768, was hung on a pole outside the church. The interior was antique in appearance and the pulpit was lofty and had to be entered by a flight of ten or twelve steps. There was a sounding board dome of wood suspended above the preachers head.

There does not appear to be any record to show that a cornerstone was ever laid or that the church was ever dedicated. The gentleman who donated the land, Joseph Chapline is said to have occupied a pew in the church until he died. In 1849 the church was casted and the interior remodeled. During the battle of Antietam in 1862, the church was shelled and the Federal troops used it for a field hospital. It was so damaged it could not be rebuilt or repaired so was razed. The ground was exchanged for another church site and the corner-stone of that church was laid on September 15, 1866 and dedicated on May 23, 1869. The early records of the church have been lost or destroyed. Early ministers were supply ministers from Hagerstown and Frederick. The preaching until 1831, was done in German.

Ministers of Mount Calvary early days were Revs. Schaeffer, Ravenock, Bachey, Little, Sway, Winter, Rigen, Ozwald, Diehl, Hunt Unruh, Martz, Sunger, Stine, Startzman, Buhrman, Weills, Beckley.

According to the plaque on the cemetery grounds, Colonel Joseph Chapline donated the ground for a church and cemetery. The cost would be one peppercorn yearly.